Ave Maria Meditations
It is strange that the most definitive triumph in man’s history should have appeared to those who witnessed it as an utter defeat. Almost everything on Calvary seemed to spell failure for him who had been put to death so ignominiously. The tortured body of Christ was hanging limply from the cross, his head bowed in death. His enemies were taking a last, satisfied look at his lifeless figure, and were congratulating each other on what appeared to be their complete victory. His Apostles, acting like a small band of defeatists, were hiding behind the barred doors of the Cenacle.
The apparent defeat of Jesus looked so final that it kept the disciples plunged in gloom into the third day. Even the first reports of the empty tomb did not help to lift the pall which enshrouded them.
The spiritual victory of the Church has always been proportionate to her application of the wisdom of the cross. Whenever her members have depended on worldly wisdom, they have failed spiritually. When they have acted on the wisdom of the cross, they have marked up one victory after another. This is vividly illustrated in the saints, who have chosen poverty rather than riches, humiliation rather than honor, self-denial rather than pleasure, death rather than a life characterized by betrayal of God and his truth.
None but unbelievers would question the victory that the saints have achieved through their application of the wisdom of the cross. Their triumph is decisive and eternal. This exaltation of the cross is all the more impressive when one considers the playing down of the cross by those who have broken away from the Church. Those outside the Church who call themselves Christian more often than not appear shy and embarrassed in the presence of the cross. All that we are saying is that the farther that one gets from the spirit of the Church, the further one gets from the cross.
Fr. Bertrand Weaver CP (His Cross in Your Life)
