“Because the cross is a tree of life-giving grace, let us who have died so many times by reason of our sins, long for that tree, do penance and suffer with Christ.” — St. Bonaventure, OFM
St. Theodorus had a great reflection today on the cross in the Office of Readings. He called the cross the “most precious gift” “total beauty” and “completely magnificent.” How often do we think of the cross in those terms? He said that the cross “gives life, not death; illuminates, not obscures; opens the way to paradise, not expelling us from it.”
St. Paul spoke eloquently of the cross in Galatians: “With all that I am, may I not boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” (Gal. 6,14)
It seems a bit odd, I suppose, that the Church proposes for our meditation during the Easter season a treatise on the cross.
Yet, Easter makes sense only in light of the cross. Death leads to new life for those who believe. We will believe that which we contemplate. Lex orandi, lex credendi. As we pray, so we believe. The complete Easter celebration includes a joyful reflection on the cross, which is possible with the faith that come with the experience of the Risen Jesus.
