Be Welcoming to the Cross

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT’S how our attitude should be toward the cross, in whatever form it may come to us. It may be in matters of health, finances, family and business concerns, etc., we should just welcome the cross knowing that if we carry it together with Christ, it will surely work for the salvation of mankind, since that was the reason Christ embraced his cross.

We have to make some radical adjustments in our understanding and attitude toward whatever suffering and pain we can have in this world. Our Christian faith should shape our understanding of it.

With such understanding, we know that the cross can actually give us peace and joy in this world, the real peace and joy that capture the global picture of God’s tremendous love and mercy toward us given our wounded and sinful condition in this world.

Our attitude toward the cross should not just be one of simply tolerating and bearing it since it cannot be avoided. We should love it, embrace it, even look for it. We should not just wait for it to come to us. We have to convince ourselves that it is in the cross where we can truly find Christ, and Christ as he consummates his redemptive work on us.

That is why we should really why the cross is essential and indispensable in our life. And by knowing the purpose of the cross, we mean that we need to refer everything in our life to the passion, death and resurrection of Christ where the cross plays a crucial role.

Yes, that’s right. We need to refer everything to the cross because that is how everything in our life, whether good or bad, big or small, spiritual or material, would find its true and ultimate meaning and purpose.

We need to know the purpose of the cross because in the first place Christ himself said that to follow him, we need not only to deny ourselves but also to carry the cross daily. (cfr Lk 9,23)

Christ, who as the Son of God and the perfect image that God has of himself, is the pattern of our humanity since God created us in his image and likeness. As the Son of God who became man, he is the redeemer and restorer of our damaged humanity. That’s why he described himself as the way, the truth and the life for us. (cfr Jn 14,6)

We need to know the purpose of the cross because the cross, through Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, is where everything in our life is resolved. Christ’s passion, death and resurrection is the culmination of Christ’s redemptive mission on earth.

We also have to understand that it is through Christ’s cross that we can attain the fullness of love. There’s, of course, love when the conditions around it are sweet, favorable, convenient to us, etc. But it would be a much greater love if the conditions around it are the opposite—bitter instead of sweet, one that gives us more challenges and difficulties, etc. Yes, the greater the suffering, the greater the love also.

Indeed, suffering makes our love have its fullness. This is how we should look at the cross so that we can develop a welcoming attitude toward it. Everyday, we should see to it that the cross figures prominently and abidingly in our life. It need not be in big sacrifices only. It can be more consistently developed in the little sacrifices we make, like some mortifications in food, drinks, use of social media, etc.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com