Looking Upon the Cross of Christ

At the sight of that Cross for which Jesus said: When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself (John 12:32) I feel impelled to proclaim its saving power. That holy cross, and made holy by Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God who is crucified on it, is now our saving access to the throne of grace of the Father.

The more I look deeply into it the more I feel that wonderful experience of repentance Peter must have felt when Jesus looked at him in Luke 22:61. There, the verb used by St Luke is ἐνέβλεψεν (eneblepsen) which comes from the verb ἐμβλέπω (emblepó) and means I look into (upon); met: I consider; I see clearly. This is exactly what happens to me when I am in the presence of Jesus Crucified. I feel that Jesus Crucified is looking into me, meeting me, considering me, seeing me clearly. Such a look is not simply a friendly one, for at times it causes me a certain uncomfortableness due to my sin, but it is also a saving look. Here are some of the expressions such a look leads me to conclude.

To begin with at the sight of that saving Cross of Christ I feel that with Him I am victorious over evil and death and, most of all, repentant of my sins. Here I am reminded of what St Leo the Great writes: No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance. St John Paul II’s reflection also helps me delve deeper into this reality that Christ’s Cross defeats every life difficulty and evil by the power of the Holy Spirit. He wrote: There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already borne for us, and does not now bear with us. And on the far side of every cross we find the newness of life in the Holy Spirit, that new life which will reach its fulfillment in the resurrection. This is our faith. This is our witness before the world.

Moreover, Jesus’ Cross marks my entire existence. St Augustine’s reflection makes me decide so. He writes: As they were looking on, so we too gaze on his wounds as he hangs. We see his blood as he dies. We see the price offered by the redeemer, touch the scars of his resurrection. He bows his head, as if to kiss you. His heart is made bare open, as it were, in love to you. His arms are extended that he may embrace you. His whole body is displayed for your redemption. Ponder how great these things are. Let all this be rightly weighed in your mind: as he was once fixed to the cross in every part of his body for you, so he may now be fixed in every part of your soul. 

Thirdly, Christ Crucified is for me my greatest hope in my life because in Jesus’ death I find my real life, eternal life. Once again, the Bishop of Hippo encourages me to think in this direction when he says: The death of the Lord our God should not be a cause of shame for us; rather, it should be our greatest hope, our greatest glory. In taking upon himself the death that he found in us, he has most faithfully promised to give us life in him, such as we cannot have of ourselves.

Fourthly, Christ’s Cross is an exceptional school of patience. St Augustine reflects deeply on this fact when he meditates: The passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the hope of glory and a lesson in patience. What may not the hearts of believers promise themselves as the gift of God’s grace, when for their sake God’s only Son, co-eternal with the Father, was not content only to be born as man from human stock but even died at the hands of the men he had created?

Fifthly, Jesus’ saving Cross defeats death and access to eternal life is now possible. St John Damascene writes: By nothing else except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has death been brought low: The sin of our first parent destroyed, hell plundered, resurrection bestowed, the power given us to despise the things of this world, even death itself, the road back to the former blessedness made smooth, the gates of paradise opened, our nature seated at the right hand of God and we made children and heirs of God. By the cross all these things have been set aright…It is a seal that the destroyer may not strike us, a raising up of those who lie fallen, a support for those who stand, a staff for the infirm, a crook for the shepherded, a guide for the wandering, a perfecting of the advanced, salvation for soul and body, a deflector of all evils, a cause of all goods, a destruction of sin, a plant of resurrection, and a tree of eternal life. Even St Thomas Aquinas saw Christ’s Cross as a school of patience. He said: If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten; he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth.

Sixthly, in a very intriguing reflection, St Anthony of Padua is helping me realize that Christ’s Cross is a mirror thanks to which I can see my real value in God’s eyes. In a quote normally attributed to him we read: Christ who is your life is hanging before you, so that you may look at the cross as in a mirror.  There you will be able to know how mortal were your wounds, that no medicine other than the Blood of the Son of God could heal…Nowhere other than looking at himself in the mirror of the cross can man better understand how much he is worth.

Seventhly and finally, Jesus’ Cross is also the undoubtable revelation of who our God really is. The great theologian of the twentieth century, Hans Urs Von Balthasar, tells us: Being disguised under the disfigurement of an ugly crucifixion and death, the Christ upon the cross is paradoxically the clearest revelation of who God is.

Lord Jesus, through your saving Cross, keep looking into me and not just upon me. Lord, by your saving Cross keep meeting me where I am. Keep considering me as one of yours and save and protect me by your saving, restoring and empowering look so that I can see clearly who you are and act on who you are for me. Amen.

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