Sunday, September 14, 2003
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Exaltation of Jesus’s fidelity to his Cause

Readings:
Num 21, 4-9: The Israelites protest
Responsorial Psalm 77: 1-2.34-38
Phil. 2, 6-11: Christological Hymn from Philippians
Jn 3, 13-17: The Cross, symbol of redemption

       Today is the feast of the «Exaltation» of the Holy Cross. The feast is about the symbol that identifies Christianity throughout the word, just as the half moon identifies Islam and the six-pointed star formed by two triangles identifies Judaism.

       Based on a kind of magic mentality, the cross has had a history of being valued almost as much as the Christ who died on it. The sign of the cross has purportedly frightened demons, dispelled curses, «signed» all its devotees, and been traced in the air millions of times, showering beneficent blessings.

       In popular piety, Christ has been perceived above all as the suffering one, the condemned, the scourged, the crucified, the man of sorrows, who died amid unbearable sufferings. The cross has been a symbol of sorrow, both of Christ’s pain and of suffering in general. For Christians, the suffering of Christ has a universal meaning.

       From the point of view of the understanding of the cross as sorrowful, its ‘exaltation’ does not cease to be problematic. Frequently, pastoral ministers try to avoid these problems, evading them, or not mentioning them, looking the other way, or speaking of other things. This evasive method is not the best way to serve Christian people. We think it is better to confront the problems, to name them, and to set limits. This is what we will try to do.

       The first great danger is that of «exaltation» itself, because it can seem to be exaltation of suffering for suffering?s sake, as if it had some Christian value in and of itself. It even perpetuates the image of a suffering God who loves pain, who seems to be happy to see suffering, or who only shows love and generosity to humans in exchange for pain and anguish.

       Many of the promises, ‘offerings’, of folk religion are made according to this scheme: I will sacrifice myself, I will offer God some pain that I cause myself, as a payment given to God in exchange for a favor I ask. This God to whom suffering is pleasing and valuable is not the Christian God; the exaltation of a cross which includes the image of such a God would not be a Christian exaltation.

       There is a very serious problem with this still-prevailing theology, according to which God sent the Son into the world to suffer, to suffer horrendously, because the Son would be the only one capable of offering infinite reparation to the dignity of God, who had been offended by human beings in an ‘original sin’ which, historically speaking, never took place. Without any real basis in the gospel, this theology appeared with the passage of the first centuries, and it was St. Anselm of Canterbury (XI Century) who gave to the cross the meaning that has come all the way down to us in our children’s catechisms. It is the classic vision of ‘redemption’, the death of Jesus on the redemptive cross, which «paid» the Father, with the Son’s own suffering, so that the Father would re-establish the good order of his relationship with Humanity. Firmly united to this theology is the «sacrifice» of Christ on the Cross. This theology, on the one hand, results today an unacceptable image of God. On the other hand, it is a theology that figures «inexplicably» in many official documents. To celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross without tackling these problems would be more comfortable, but not more sincere, nor profitable, nor pedagogical.

       The cross of Christ shouldn’t be used as a symbol of all the structural limitations and natural finiteness of human nature. Frailty is one natural dimension of human life (the crosses of this life), but the cross of Christ is not something natural; it is something historical. The cross of Christ -unless we want to fall into mystifications- does not consist of Christ’s human difficulties and limitations, nor ours: nor illness, limitations, accidents or bad luck. Those are not the cross of Christ; they are the ups and downs, the situations of human life, which we must learn to bear, again and again, with grace and good humor.

       The cross of Christ was not «God’s design» but a very human scheme. Jesus, for his part, didn’t go looking for the cross: «Let this chalice pass from me», nor would he have sought the cross, in itself, for his disciples. That «Ave Crux, Spes unica!» (Hail, the Cross, our only hope!) of the classic saying, needs to be interpreted cautiously. Neither God, nor Christ, nor we ourselves, are to love the cross; on the contrary, we must wage war on it.

       The task of the Christian, as of Jesus, is to do battle, to liberate human beings from suffering, «to do all the good that can be done», as would have been said about last Sunday’s gospel. For sure, to fight against the cross can cause animosity to arise in those who are selfishly interested in perpetuating systems of and structures of oppression, and in persons who impose a cross on those who fight to free human beings from every cross.

       Another more modern and correct saying is: «Seek the Truth, the Cross will follow». We don’t need to seek the cross, although we also should not retreat one inch from the truth, for fear that the cross will be put upon us.

       In the long run, what we must exalt is not the cross, but the courage of Jesus who, with a resolute love, chose the Kingdom and with it the cross, which he surely foresaw would be his fate. The exaltation of the fidelity of Jesus to the Cause of the Kingdom is the true content of this feast. Some people get frightened when we do these critical re-readings. To them, it seems very negative. They prefer to speak only of the positive, and they dismiss the rest, let it disappear into obscurity. We don’ t share that opinion. We are in a time of theological transition, a transition that proceeds slowly, precisely because of the lack of a critical sense in theology and in preaching. If preachers (and Christian formation groups) took on, as a permanent task, doing a critical interpretation of all the thinking that still injures Christianity, we would, without doubt, be in a better position to dialogue with the real world. On the other hand, all renewal of thought and life necessitates a moment of deconstruction; without it, true renovation is often impossible.

For the revision of life

-Do I seek the truth at all costs, without becoming a coward in the face of the possibility that I may have to endure the cross?

-Do I accept the crosses (historical, not natural) that I carry? (Name them; review them in detail within myself).

-Christ, in his solidarity with humanity, «despoils» himself of his divine nature and takes on the condition of a slave. What does this gesture of Jesus say about how I live, my life style? How far does my solidarity with the poor extend? What must I abandon to be in solidarity with suffering humanity?

For group meetings

For more on this topic about the cross, we especially recommend:

-"How to preach the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ today, by Leonardo Boff, which appeared in "Pasión de Cristo, pasión del mundo" (ediciones en Sal Terrae de España, Indoamerican Press de Bogotá 1978). It is a short text, which lends itself well to biblical study or reflection groups or to the whole community. The English translation might be available on the website http://servicioskoinonia.org/relat/217.htm.

-To be conscious of the exaggerations, which have been widespread on this topic of the cross through Christian history, see the study SESBOÜÉ A somber anthology?, on http://servicioskoinonia.org/relat/333.htm

For the prayers of the faithful

For the community prayer

       God, our Father, grant us the gift of knowing how to find, in our actual historical situation, a profound sense of our Christian mission, so that with all that is implied in being faithful to your designs for our society, we may commit ourselves to our task of living and building your Kingdom. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

        God, Father and Mother, who in the life, passion and death of Jesus, have realized your greatest revelation to the world, as our faith assures us; we ask you to grant us the gift of learning to rediscover with lowly eyes, all that you have continued to reveal in these 2000 years of history, within and outside of Christianity, so that the Word which you pronounced in Jesus may be shared with all people and religions. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.