How is it that the sufferings of Christ on the Cross continue to save and to heal and to comfort? This is such a perplexing contradiction. The events on Calvary and the Lord’s willing sacrifice there are marked by the nightmare of His physical pain and emotional trauma, yet we still pray, all these centuries later, “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, for by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.”
All who are suffering in whatever form this Good Friday, all who struggle to make sense of what, by any human estimate, seems to be senseless, will find an echo of their pain in the sufferings of Jesus – because the contradiction of the Cross remains. St. Paul, in First Corinthians, writes “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” (1, 22)
Today, in places all over the world, those who experience pain and desolation in whatever form, are very much like Mary, standing at the foot of the Cross. In a unique way, they will sense something of the complexity of emotions that were present on Calvary. All of us would do well to remember the confusion, disillusionment, and desolation of that day.
In the end, however, Calvary sets in consoling relief the experience of all who suffer. The human Jesus, struggling to come to terms with the reality of His predicament, provides a “template,” so to speak, for every human experience of suffering and of loss. The Holy Cross, planted in the ground on that hill, becomes the seed of our hope. Let’s never forget that!
