“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16–17
Sitting here this morning gazing upon my Cross of St. Benedict (made for us by my brother, Patrick Campbell), I contemplate the cross.
A cross, in and of itself, is an instrument of death, a horrific and violent death. It’s also an instrument of humiliation and torture. There are many forms of execution created by man, most are very cruel. But, none rival the Romans and their crucifixion. The cross was meant to show all who saw it that Rome had power. The cross displayed its victim for days or more. Death on a cross was excruciating (hence the term ex – from / crux – cross). The cross as an instrument of torture almost more than one of execution. A horrible and bloody symbol of brutality and death.
“For by Your cross and resurrection, You have set us free.”
Yet, through the death of Jesus upon the cross, we Christians see it and exalt. Today, the Cross is seen as a holy and blessed object. We hang crucifixes in our homes, wear them around our neck, keep them in our pocket on the end of the rosary, and spend time in prayer before them. The Cross is now an exalted image by which we turn to God in prayer and surrender. That is only the case because it was on a cross that we were saved and brought to eternal life.
Yet, as I gaze upon the crucifix before me, it isn’t to marvel upon the cross. At this moment God speaks to me from the cross. “Tell sinful souls that if I can make an symbol meant for torture, brutality and death into something to revere, imagine what My Divine Mercy will do for the soul who comes to Me for forgiveness.”
The power of God to make ‘all things new’ (Revelation 21:5) through the crucifix and His Divine Mercy is unlimited. The scarlet stained soul need only fall before Jesus and ask, He will open the floodgates of Mercy to make that soul new again. Not like new but truly new.
But, God speaks further to me that we must be willing to suffer the pain of looking at the cross with Him upon it – a crucifix. The separate Jesus from the cross makes it again an item of scorn. Spend time today meditating upon the crucifix closest to you. Think of what this means to your salvation. Hint: it is everything.
See Patrick’s work at https://www.crossofstbenedict.com
“But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace wasupon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5