On the wisdom of the folly of the Cross

The Catholic Church calendar marks 14 September each year to celebrate the Triumph of the Cross.  This most ignominious sign of shame and disgrace in the age of the Roman Empire is probably the most misunderstood and under-appreciated display of God’s inside-out and upside-down approach towards enlightenment, actualization and salvation. 

It didn’t take much (and still doesn’t) for people to reject any notions of cross-carrying in life.  Yet, Jesus couldn’t make it clearer that all serious followers of his had to renounce the self, and then take up his or her cross, and then follow Jesus.  In other words, there is no cheap and easy discipleship.  Each determined step of being a disciple of Jesus requires an honest apprehension and cognizance of what one finds most difficult to live life the way Christ wants us to.  Perhaps for this reason alone, Christianity can never be called an escapism from life simply because Jesus makes it clear that it is most likely the very things that we run away from, hide from and find most shameful and embarrassing that will end up saving us, because we choose the very difficult option of admitting of our absolutely powerlessness over them on our own, and take them resolutely with us with the strength that comes from Christ.  It’s not that he will condone them, or rationalize them for us, but the very wisdom of God is often shown when our greatest failures become our greatest strengths.

This truth is very much in line with a lot of teachings that have a spiritual background.  It is found in the paradoxes that cannot be understood or comprehended from a mind that uses pure logic and intuition.  That is why Jesus had always spoken of the need for a conversion – a metanoia in the minds of his disciples, because it requires very much of any serious disciple to apprehend reality with a different mind which is ‘beyond’ the mind. 

In the Catholic tradition, when a priest blesses with the Cross, there is a lot in that one simple action.  That the Church chooses to use this instrument of torture and shame to ‘bless’ us in any assembly says a lot more than meets the eye.  It reminds us that our own crosses in life can truly be our hidden blessings if we but use them toward our sanctification.  It would seem illogical that our failures and hardships and weaknesses can ‘bless’ us, but this is what the Cross on Calvary boldly showed to be true. 

When I bless Crosses for the lay faithful, or when I bless them with a Cross, my prayer is always that the person never runs away from their crosses, their fears and their weaknesses in life.  My heartfelt prayer is that they take courage to face their challenges in life, whatever they may be, because this is the hidden wisdom behind the triumph of the Cross. 

But much as I try to impart this through the prayers I formulate, I get a sense that oftentimes, the person much prefers to use the cross as a means to keep at bay (or at least at a comfortable distance) the things that make living both a challenge and a struggle.  Using the Cross as a sort of a talisman to ward off evil will hardly lead one to living a transformed life, if one does not heed Jesus’ advice to take up one’s cross and follow him.