The Cross
Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem…(Phil2:8)
Puer natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis…(Is9:5)
Like an explosion of fireworks in the night sky, the Incarnation of the Son manifested in an unprecedented manner that God is love. Never before has God’s radical love for mankind been shown to such an extent. In this mystery we view The Totally Transcendent not only descended to us, but becoming one of us.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us… (Jn1:14)
At the core, this mystery is the same as all the other mysteries of God’s self-revelation and where we stand today, at the foot of the Cross, we view yet again the mysterious manifestation that God is love. Like throwing dry driftwood upon a blazing fire, the mystery of the Incarnation now bursts to a higher glow: God’s love is manifested at yet a still more intense degree.
The Cross is an extension of the mystery of the Crib. The flesh that was assumed for love of us is now consumed upon the Cross for us. The mystery of the God-Man is a mystery of love, which revolves around the mystery of his flesh: flesh taken (Incarnation), flesh given (Crucifixion). Love doesn’t know any other way of self-expression than that of self-giving. By the Crib and by the Cross we contemplate the epiphany of God’s very being: love. At both instances we view God giving himself away.
Kneeling beside the Crib we are taught that God is love. Standing under the Cross this same lesson is reiterated. It a lesson that is given to the extreme; God wanted to make it clear that he is love and that to love is to give. It is this scene of self-giving that God desires to be repeated by the people of the world. Jesus’ Crucifixion is a call look and learn. I give you an example (Jn13:15)…Learn from me (Mt11:29)… Look at the love of God! Learn from the love of God! Love as the God of Love! Give and give again! A husband giving his seed; a mother giving her milk; a monk giving his will; a martyr giving his blood: they all manifest the self-giving God of love, who in the Crib and upon the Cross gave himself pro nobis (for us).
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