15
Jesus takes up the Cross and begins
the journey to the place of execution.
He takes up His cross alone. Except
for the compassion of His Mother, the
delicate courtesy of Veronica, the tears
of the holy women and the absolutely
necessary help of Simon of Cyrene,
Jesus carries His cross alone. Christ
carries forth the sign and symbol of
our religion.
T
hrough Baptism, we take all that
belongs to and is a part of Jesus Christ:
sufferings, misunderstandings, unjust
judgements, false accusations, betrayals,
scourging, crowning with thorns, the
pain of the Cross and the aloneness
which Jesus knew. This is our God,
our Salvation, our Way, our Life,
our Love! This is what it means to
follow Christ. We must choose Him,
whole and entire, if we wish to be
saved and sanctified. We see Love here
on Calvary as we have never seen it
before: the complete emptying of self,
giving until there is no more to give!
This is what we mean to God!
Here, at the foot of the Cross, we
watch but, even more, we “listen.”
We listen not only with our ears but
also with our hearts. “Father, forgive
them for they know not what
they do.”
This is more of a divine cry than
a human one! Christ is begging
forgiveness for all who have played a
part in His Passion: those who spat on
Him, scourged Him, crowned Him with
thorns, drove spikes through His Hands
and Feet, and all those who stood at
the foot of the Cross. Forgiveness is
the deepest thing in God; it is the key
to His mission, the very reason for His
Incarnation. He taught us forgiveness
every day of His Life. Jesus Christ turned
the world upside down. Forgiveness,
like His, was utterly unknown in the
pagan world of the Romans. Forgiving
and forgetting even to the point of
loving again: This is the Life of Christ.
He hangs from a tree fashioned by
human sin and ingratitude carried to
the extreme. Christ is in love. This, we
may clearly see. He is in love with
man and that explains everything.
Perfect Love leads to
Perfect Forgiveness.
One moment, Dismas is a criminal,
crucified for his enormous wrongs;
the next moment, he is a canonized
saint, assured of Heaven by Christ
Himself! It is the story of the prodigal
son all over again: A life of sin and a
heart of repentance. It is his last and
biggest theft: Dismas stole Heaven!
Mercy falls like rains from Heaven.
Christ needed only a hint of sorrow,
merely a glance of hope and love, and
He and Dismas were united to each
other forever!