Finding God? Take your place beside Jesus Christ on his Cross!

Finding God?  Take your place beside Jesus Christ on his Cross!

No, this is not a mistake by calling his cross as more than a structure.  The Crucifix is what we all adore because of its reminder of how much love Christ has for us.  But how may we identify what this cross is that wasn’t just on Good Friday?

Can we say that during the Easter Triduum his cross began a three day journey of introducing service as disciples, initiating the priesthood, and most of all signifying his real presence in the Eucharist which will be forever to his people?  Some might say, “Yes,” and adhere to just those events.

When, then, can we find a position on the cross and what does that imply?  The truth that God could not create anything unholy because of his own holiness that is beyond sin or its attraction to man alone.  Look deeper into the Spiritual understanding of what holiness is and its very adherence to God’s Omnipotence.  

There is no mystery as to what Jesus did following his Baptism and Temptations by the devil.  It wasn’t a test to grade him as a man, but a serious challenge to place the cross of his mission on a chopping block because of failure.  Remembering that at the Incarnation Christ assumed his human nature and it would be united to his divinity in all he did, forever.  

The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God’s suffering Servant.  (see this on the 4th Sunday of Lent’s article).  He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  Already he is anticipating the “baptism” of his bloody death.  Already he is coming to “fulfill all righteousness,” that is, he is submitting himself entirely to his Father’s will: out of love, he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins.  The Father’s voice responds to the Son’s acceptance, proclaiming his entire delight in his Son.  The Spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception comes to “rest on him.”  Jesus will be the source of the Spirit for all mankind.  At his baptism “the heavens were opened” - the heavens that Adam’s sin had closed - and the waters were sanctified by the descent of Jesus and the Spirit, a prelude to the new creation.  (CCC 536).

It is here:  The very essence of the mission of Christ that culminated upon the Crucifix; this is the Cross that we must also take as a position to be just as Christ in his task of a Suffering Servant.  That is what holiness is all about and not everyone will find that as an attractive approach to simulate.  However; it is always there for some to choose as a true follower of Jesus Christ; the Son of God who has shown us the way to his heart.  

Ralph B. Hathaway