Glory in the Cross of Jesus Christ…

What a strange statement. The cross is humilitation and torture, victimization and execution, violence and dehumanization…everything I want to avoid. Glory?  I don’t know about you, but at first glance I find this a hard saying. Maybe that’s my problem. It’s a first glance. Maybe I haven’t looked long enough. Maybe I just don’t see.

These first weeks after Easter are all about appearances. They are gathered, and suddenly he is there. Then he is gone. They are walking, and he joins them. They are fishing and suddenly he is there cooking breakfast. The Church will give us readings from the Acts of the Apostles, showing us what the early Church is doing. Maybe this is what John Chrysostom meant when he said, “He is no longer where he was; now he is where we are.” They had to get used to this new kind of “presence,” and so do we. It demands a leap of faith, and a trust the Eucharist reaffirms over and over. “I am risen and still with you.” Faith is a dark light…and no, I just don’t see…unless I believe.

But this new presence is not fun and games. We struggle; we hurt even while watching the news; we are humiliated; we are insulted. Sounds like the cross to me, and that just may be the point. As he came into his glory through the cross, so shall we. There is no blaming from the cross. There must be no blaming from me. There is no violence from the cross. There must be none from me. There is forgiveness from the cross. So must it be from me. There is no explanation for this suffering from the cross. There is no explanation for what I am asked to endure either. There is trust from the cross. Aye, there’s the rub. Can there be trust from me? Can I trust that God will come through? That from his suffering and mine comes new life? Will God deliver for me the way God delivered for him? If I say no, I will sink into my bitterness. If I make the leap and say yes…glory will be mine just like his? “…now he is where we are…I am risen and still with you.”

Is this what you are asking of me?

Is this what my baptism has plunged me into?

Is this how you easter in me?

You are not kidding.

To be honest, I am repulsed by the cross.

Were you?

What did you have to do to bend your human will to embrace it?

Help me bend mine.

Help me to shine.

Mary, this month is yours.

Pray me into his mercy and help me to shine.