Friday, March 30, 2012

Victory in the Cross

Sometimes we fail to realize that the cross which is the common attribute among Christians is likewise a symbol of victory, if we live its deeper meaning. Because we are made for an eternal destiny, many crosses and humiliations in life are actually blessings in disguise. That’s what the many lives of the Saints attest to.

Basically this would mean going in accord with the pattern exemplified by Jesus. Hence there is the Latin adage that says: Regnat a ligno Deus (translated: God reigns from the wood of the Cross). It’s actually what the saints followed, living their lives according to the pattern set by our Lord Jesus who said: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, it is for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self? For if anyone is ashamed of me and my name, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Lk. 9:23-26). After all that’s what love really is, as enunciated summarily by St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: “Love is humble, love is patient, love is forgiving” (see 1 Cor. 13:1-13).

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