St. Bernard, in today’s second reading from the Office, mentions two longings we have: a desire to stand with the saints in heaven and share in their happiness, and the desire that Christ may show himself to us as he does to the saints in heaven. But, as St. Bernard indicates, the manner in which Christ reveals himself to us on earth is frequently as the Crucified One rather than as the Glorified One of heaven.
So often, the saints on earth do resemble the Crucified One. These are the saints who are the poor and suffering, the forgotten, the disenfranchised, the unborn, the elderly, the mentally ill, the chemically dependent, and the immigrant. We do long to be with Christ, as the saints in heaven verily are with him, but we don’t want so often to be with him on earth as he chooses to reveal himself to us in the poor. I think it is an interesting meditation for today: We are celebrating the lives of the crucified ones on this earth, for whom we must long to be present, for they are Christ.
