The Veneration of the Cross

Fr James McTavish FMVD

Transformation in Love

Today we celebrate the veneration of the cross. We sing the acclaim “Behold the wood of the cross on which is hung our salvation”. The first reading proclaims “See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him so marred was his look beyond human semblance and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man so shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless”. (Is 52,13-15). What is happening? What is going on this day? Why do we venerate the cross when at first glance it seems a failure and an object of scorn? In many countries of today the crucifix is being banned. In Japan many cannot understand what this man is doing on a cross, it seems so shameful.

We have to dialogue with Jesus, ask him. Lord what are you doing there on the cross? Jesus will tell us “Look, I am making everything new”. Jesus is renewing the world with his love. What helps me to understand the love behind the cross is remembering a photograph of my father. In it he is holding my brother and I in his outstretched arms after our baptism. For me it is a picture of selfless love, a young man living as a father, a life of sacrifice and self giving – in short a life of tremendous love which I saw on the face of my smiling father. When we gaze at Jesus on the cross we notice the pain and suffering but we must also notice the great love. Many Saints such as St Francis Xavier even prayed with a crucified Christ who was smiling.

It is of Christ carrying his cross that Pilate says “Here is the man” – he is the model we are called to follow, his is the love we are called to imitate. A love that is crucified. A love that is capable to put to death selfishness. A love that is capable to put to death laziness to reach out to others. Do you know when I first experienced this love in my life I was working in Sydney, Australia. I was a surgeon working hard but when I experienced the love of Christ, I realized there is no greater love than this, for a person to give up his life for me. When I tasted this love I wanted more. It started to change me. I wanted to make this love my own. It is like Pope John Paul II stated in his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, the Redeemer of man “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.” (RH 10). When I left Australia to enter Verbum Dei I had a ‘despedida’. The theme was “My life is Christ”. I was not totally sure what it meant at first but I realized that this is what I want for my life, to be like Christ. That is what fascinated me, that Jesus wanted to walk around the streets of Sydney in my life, to speak to others through my mouth, to touch their lives them with my very hands.

That was more than 10 years ago. I see that his love has transformed me, it has made me a new person. I never ever shared about my faith in public ever when I lived in the UK but now I find it difficult to keep quiet! I want to announce and dedicate my whole life to shouting to the world of today that only the love of Christ satisfies us.

Jesus asks us to imitate his crucified love. To put to death in us all that stops us loving and giving our lives. Our shyness, our laziness, our cynicisms. Put it all to death with Christ on his cross. May we be able to crucify all that stops us loving. We need a more mature love. Sometimes I find my love very immature. When I was 5 if I didn’t like someone they could not come to my birthday party. But if I liked them, well they can come to my party. This is fine when we are 5 but now at 25, 35, 45 our love needs to be more mature. Sometimes my love is still the same. I sent a text to someone saying respond a.s.a.p. – as soon as possible. They ignored it. I noticed that same reaction “Right, you are not coming to my birthday party!” It is time to grow up.

Jesus goes to the cross to teach us how to love. Not any old love will change the world but a crucified love can make all things new. Jesus is not just looking for adorers or admirers but he wants decided imitators. We cannot understand this love at a distance, it is not a spectator sport. There was a cross of Christ in the seminary of St John Vianney in Cagayan de Oro. One hand is nailed to the cross but the other is reaching out. “Come and join me, don’t be afraid. My crucified love can make everything new”. Let us not be afraid to join Christ on the cross. As Pope John Paul II reminded us “The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly-and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being-he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he must "appropriate" and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself.”

If we don’t enter into this experience of love we will never find out what it is to be human. We say we are only human, if only we truly were! Jesus offers us the true essence of what it means to be man. Lord I want to be like you, walk like you, talk like you, love like you! And Jesus encourages us “Come and join me! Together we can make everything new!”