This is a great relationship that we live in is centered on God's love. St. Paul will remind us that while we are sinners, God comes into our midst to save us and redeem us. God's is a self-less love that continues to pour out grace and blessing on all peoples. We see this in the sacred scripture, but our experience is in those momentary holy times whereas we can move beyond our humanity and embrace God's goodness. The faithful love in a marriage, the random kindness of a stranger, and in the innocence of a child's wonder, all are glimpses into the love of the Father.
Which brings us to the cross. A horrific instrument of death, the cross becomes a sign and symbol of God's saving love. God gives his Son to us so that through the Paschal Mystery we can come to understand the intensity of Divine love. Theologian Karl Rahner would suggest that the death of Christ had to be intense since the Sinfulness of humanity was intense as well. The death of Christ had to be a "large" and profound death so as to capture the nature and realm of Sin.
The cross becomes more of a challenge to our remaining faithful than would Jesus have simply done good things for us, and died of natural causes. Or more so, we would not be as moved if Jesus spent three years doing all sort of wondrous actions, and ascended into heaven. The cross reminds us that God loves us, even unto death. St. John reflects this when he comments that there is no greater love than to lay down ones life for another. The cross becomes the best possible way for God to demonstrate his love for us.
As we reflect on the cross it would be good to look at how we engage in the process of dying to our self, so as to have life. We talk about athletes and the like who deny themselves all sorts of things, so that they can be the best that they can be. In our faith we renounce Sin and Evil, so that by the example of the cross we can live as more perfect people. The cross needs to be our stumbling block that makes us pause and think about what we are doing, and why.
Hopefully the sign of the cross can become our sign of life with God. In the cross we have all died with Christ, so that we can live with him forever.
There's an ancient hymn for this day, "Vexilla Regis," but alas when I went to Mass they didn't sing it. It's interesting that Rahner proposed that Christ's death had to be of some awesome magnitude in proportion to the massiveness of human sin. I like this concept, and it would make sense, but I recall learning in that old Baltimore Catechism that even the shedding of a drop of blod from Christ would merit all of human salvation due to His divine nature. This makes more sense; and wasn't Rahner officially censured for his later teaching that went against official doctrine...
ReplyDeleteTo be sure Christ's shedding his blood is at the crux of our salvation. Yes Rahner tended to work at the edge of theology throughout his life. While he is an important theologian he had to be re-directed once in awhile.
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