The strength of the cross

Publish date 12-01-2022

by Domenico Agasso

The diffusion of the symbol of Jesus on the Cross is not counted: «Around the neck, at home, in the car, in your pocket». But we must not reduce the crucifix "to an object of devotion, much less to a political symbol, to a sign of religious and social importance". It is not a "flag to be raised". Word of Pope Francis. On his third day in Slovakia on September 14, after the flash visit to Budapest, the pontiff moved out of the capital Bratislava, in particular to Kosice and Presov, for meetings with the Greek-Catholic faithful, the Roma community and young people. Just 20 km from the Hungarian border, the Divine Byzantine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom presides in the square of the Mestskà Sportovà Hala in Presov.

The cross "was an instrument of death, and yet life came from there. It was what no one wanted to look at, yet it revealed to us the beauty of God's love". The Pope highlights. The Gospel of St. John «takes us by the hand and helps us to enter into this mystery. The evangelist, in fact, was right there, under the cross. He contemplates Jesus, already dead, hanging from the wood, and writes: "He who has seen bears witness to him" ».
In the eyes of the world, the cross “is a failure. And we too run the risk of stopping at this first superficial glance, of not accepting the logic of the cross ”. How many times “do we aspire to a Christianity as winners, to a triumphalistic Christianity, which has relevance and importance, which receives glory and honor. But - he warns - a Christianity without a cross is worldly and becomes sterile ».
St. John, on the other hand, "saw the work of God on the cross. He saw that, despite his appearances, he is not a loser, but it is God who voluntarily offers himself for every man".

Francis asks himself: «How can we learn to see the glory in the cross?». Some saints have taught that the cross «is like a book that, in order to know it, one must open and read». The same is true “for the cross: it is painted or carved in every corner of our churches. There are countless crucifixes: around the neck, at home, in the car, in your pocket. But it is useless if we do not stop to look at the Crucifix and we do not open our hearts to him, if we do not let ourselves be amazed by his wounds open for us, if the heart does not swell with emotion and we do not cry before God who is wounded by love for us. . If we do not do this, the cross remains an unread book, whose title and author are well known, but which does not affect life ”. Here is the appeal of Pope Francis: "Let us not reduce the cross to an object of devotion, much less to a political symbol, to a sign of religious and social importance".
Francis also thinks “of our times, in which there is no lack of opportunities to testify. Testimony can be tainted by worldliness and mediocrity. The cross, on the other hand, requires a clear testimony ». Because it does not want to "be a flag to be raised, but the pure source of a new way of living". Which? "That of the Gospel, that of the Beatitudes".


Domenico Agasso
NP October 2021

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