“And God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
(Galatians 6:14)
There are two reasons why God sends crosses upon us.
We suffer to satisfy divine justice; we suffer for the sanctification of ourselves!
We suffer because we have sinned; we suffer so that we may not sin!
And since each of us needs purification and sanctification – for each of us has sinned or may sin – each of us must suffer and carry their own cross!
We suffer because we did not love God; we suffer so that we may love Him.
Sin imposes the cross of punishment on us – Love confers the cross of merit!
But it is always the fatherly hand that touches us – and if we do not experience the effects of blessed suffering – if the fruit of the cross becomes bitter for us, if tears do not cool but burn our souls, it is not God’s fault but ours!
Our bodies often undergo such severe and painful treatment to regain lost health, so too must the soul undergo the painful experiences of the Cross to emerge from the diseased state into which sins and forgetfulness of God have led it! God often deprives us of all external and internal consolations, and having nailed us to the Cross, apparently leaves us as if completely abandoned! For He wants us to find comfort in the Cross, to love the Cross in God – not to seek ourselves in the Cross, but Him who consecrated the Cross with His blood.
We suffer for the sanctification of our souls, and this sanctification takes place in two ways, by detachment from evil and by drawing near to good – through union and separation! The Cross separates us from the world and draws us closer to God.
As long as we do not hate the world, we will not love God – as long as we do not cease to love ourselves with disordered love, because the proper love of oneself is a commandment from God, and therefore it does not exclude the love of one’s neighbor, – we will not learn to love others.
We must love something – for love constitutes the essence of spiritual life. On the one hand, the love of God and people – on the other hand, the love of the world and oneself – holy love – cursed love. But this transition from the love of the world to the love of God – from self-love to love of neighbor, cannot be accomplished without suffering; and the more deeply and intensely the soul has grown into the world, the more painful this separation will be.
We can never love the world enough, nor God too much.
We can say: I do not know for what reason God sent this Cross upon me – but we cannot say that He did it without just cause and reason!
To suffer in love and silence – and through love and suffering to unite with God for eternity, that is the divine will which we should always honor, glorify, and bless!
II.
Glory and salvation in the Cross!
If, therefore, our salvation concerns us, it is not the Cross, but the absence of the Cross, that should be the cause of our grief and tears! People who believe in the world complain when they suffer, – people who believe in God complain when they do not suffer.
Understanding the clear meaning of the mystery of the Cross is the most sublime and practical philosophy – the mystery of the Cross will reveal to us the mystery of life!
Who is a friend of the Cross? The one who loves Jesus and their own soul.
Those who hate the Cross also hate the crucified Jesus, and they hate their own soul! The enemies of the Cross are openly those who have renounced faith, hope, and love; the secret enemies of the Cross are those who profess faith, love, and hope with words, but not with their heart, actions, and whole life – those who would like to unite the Cross of Christ with the pleasures of the world in one whole – those who would prefer to drink from the cup of sensual pleasures rather than the gall and vinegar on the Cross – those who would like to crown their temples not with a crown of thorns but with a wreath of roses.
Oh, if we knew the full dignity of the Cross of Christ – then we would recognize our complete unworthiness. If we knew the blessing of the Cross, we would know our ingratitude. The Cross of Christ surpasses the happiness of the whole world – the crown of thorns is more precious than all human treasures. As our love for God and our love for Him grow, God also measures our sufferings and crosses – corresponding grace is attached to each Cross.
With immeasurable love, God-Man loved His Mother – but Mary stood beneath the Cross!
We are unworthy of suffering because every suffering, whether it is punishment or reward, is always a divine grace for us, and for our sins, we deserve to be participants in the dirty pleasures of the world rather than the glory and blessings of the Cross of Christ!
St. John of the Cross, when the Savior gave him the choice of the reward he desired for his work and sacrifices, replied, “To suffer and be despised.” St. Francis Xavier, when he was overflowing with internal consolations, cried out to God, “Enough, Lord!” But when he endured the most severe sufferings, he pleaded, “More, O Lord, more!” Let the example of the saints teach us how to value the Cross!
III.
For the love of the crucified Jesus, let us love all those who bear the sign of the Cross: the sick, the poor, the sad, and the suffering, whether with internal or external pain!
But unfortunately, we ourselves flee from the Cross and push away those who carry the Cross!
Our behavior is according to the world; we have compassion for the unfortunate if the world has compassion for them – if the world condemns them, we condemn them too!
Because we do not want to be persecuted with the persecuted, humiliated with the humiliated! We want to cover our malice, wickedness, and cowardice with the cloak of virtue; but wickedness and cowardice are never signs of virtue! Therefore, St. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, asks God to show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus because he did not be ashamed of his chains.
If we want to assess the true value of something, we seek advice from an expert. If we want to assess the true value of the Cross, let us not seek guidance from the world, for the world neither understands nor comprehends this mystery – but let us go to the crucified Jesus.
Oh, this Cross must be a good, holy, and saving thing when our Savior loved it so sincerely, desired it, and longed for it: “But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!” Luke 12:50.
He loved the Cross in those who carried it with Him; He loved it in those who laid Him upon it; He loved it in those for whom He suffered and from whom He suffered!
Oh, if we want to find happiness in suffering, let us unite love with suffering – if we want to save our souls through suffering, let us unite suffering with love. If we have faith that the Cross is a grace according to the words of the Savior: “Blessed are the poor!”Blessed are you who hunger now. Blessed are you who weep now,” etc., why do we not want to recognize it as grace?
Suffering is our spiritual harvest in the field – why do we not rejoice if the harvest is abundant?
But as the soul is united with the body in a person, so too the joy of the Cross does not allow itself to be separated from the pain of the Cross! The one who does not feel the weight of the Cross does not carry it in a worthy manner, but the one who, if not love, at least does not complain and blaspheme against God beneath it!
Let us be afraid that our impatience and ingratitude may deprive us of this blessing – that God may punish us by taking away His Cross and leaving us with the consolation of the world!
Let us not ask God for the Cross, but let us not exempt ourselves from it – and if it burdens us excessively, let us cry out to the Savior: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
IV.
To bear the Cross that God has placed upon us in a saving manner, we must bear it according to its entire width, length, height, and depth.
We see many people who want to follow the crucified Christ, but by the path they have chosen for themselves. They desire to carry the Cross, but of their own choosing. Some say, “I would willingly endure the Cross of poverty, but I cannot bear the contempt and shame that are attached to poverty. I would bear illness with submission, but I am troubled that I cannot fulfill my obligations, that I am a burden to others!” Others accept external crosses with humility but flee from internal ones, saying, “I would endure that humiliation, but not from this or that person.”
What does all this mean? It means that we do not understand the mystery of the Cross; it means that our faith, hope, and love are very weak and feeble because we do not trust, we do not believe in our God! We think we love the Cross, but we only love ourselves.
If we love the Cross of the Savior, let us also love our own cross according to its entire width and extent! The length of the Cross represents the duration, the endurance of suffering! Let us not limit the time of God’s mercy, how long He should afflict us with the Cross! The Savior Himself carried His Cross from the cradle to the grave, and if such is His will, let us also carry our cross. We have traversed a long stretch of road through this desert of life, bent under the Cross – are we already near the end, ready to cast it off with all the merits acquired by such heavy and bloody work and suffering?
The height of the Cross represents the variety of sufferings that pile up in the heart, the soul, and the thoughts at the same time, like drifts of a raging sea – but divine grace is the most powerful barrier that will protect us from falling! – The depth of the Cross is that concentrated force of suffering that seizes the entire soul – the whole person! Sometimes God painfully grazes the heart with a thorn, and sometimes that pain is like the sword that pierced the heart of Mary!
Oh, how heavy it is then, very heavy on the soul, but let us not bargain with God! If He wants to have our whole heart crucified, let us give it to Him!
Oh, the Savior did not spare Himself from any pain throughout His entire life – let us not spare ourselves when He wants to nail us to the Cross!
What He did for the sake of our love, let us do it for the sake of His love! Only love can be repaid with love.
Niegodni jesteśmy cierpienia Cz.I – O łasce niesienia krzyża (Ks. Antoniewicz)
Przez Krzyż do Nieba. Przypomnienie missyi w W. Księstwie Poznańskióm odbytej, przez Ks. Karola Antoniewicza. WROCŁAW. Nakładem Ernesta Gunthera. 1869 r.
Catholic during the Great Apostasy 
Leave a comment