IC 2:12, 8^th Sunday of Year B, March 2, 2003

The theme of fasting, introduced in this holy Gospel, couldn’t be better timed liturgically, than to be read on the Sunday just before Lent. When the Groom Jesus left this earth, it was altogether appropriate for the Church to resume the penitential practice of fasting. It’s a felt reminder–in our stomachs–that something is missing, or, more correctly, that someone is missing. Christ is not yet in our full possession on earth, and so we voluntarily ‘hunger-ourselves’ for a kind of satisfaction that is beyond the sensual.

It takes a truly religious sense to grasp the importance of doing the works of self-denial. The Jews practiced fasting (as is evident in the Pharisees’ remark to Jesus); the Eastern and Western Church has always commended it; our Moslem friends too are required to do it. It seems that only the advocates of ‘smile-face religions’ are repulsed by works of penance. The operative principle however is inescapable: if we indulge the senses, rather than curb them, we impoverish the soul. Anyone who has the least bit of religious-mindedness must recognize that spiritual deprivation is an immensely more grave loss than anything bodily. And yet, too many would have their Christianity without this disciplinary element, as if Jesus had never accepted His cross and sufferings. A quick reminder of the Beatitudes, or a cursory review of our Lord’s sayings will clarify that the ascetical, or imposed acts of renunciation, is part and parcel of the Christian life.

Lent is designed to reset this form of thought in our minds and to train our wills to conform to the doctrine of the Master of Calvary: the Teacher whose message was written not in ink but in blood. The Imitation has a relevant exhortation for us today on the Royal Road of the Holy Cross. This chapter opens with our Lord’s famous words, “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” The author doesn’t deny that these words are among the hard sayings of the Lord, yet he adds that these words are not so hard as His words to the damned: “Depart from me in to the everlasting fire.” But the servants of our Lord’s cross will be able to stand with confidence at the judgment.

The cross of Jesus is the royal road to heaven. We call it rightly the ‘way’ of the cross. It is strength for the mind, joy for the spirit. There is no hope for salvation apart from it. Our Savior’s desire was crucifixion, for our sake; our desire certainly ought to match His. Those who die with Him will live with Him. Those who share His sufferings, will share His glory. Daily self-denial is our way of dying on Jesus’ cross. Note here that Christian mortification is a share in Christ’s cross. That is a distinction that must be maintained. For no matter how hard you will try to evade suffering and pains, you are sure to feel them. Everyone will bear some cross; but not all crosses are Christ’s. There is no one more to be pitied in life than he who suffers apart from Christ. You recall that suffering is the necessary condition of all fallen humanity, Christian and non-Christian alike. Pagans, atheists, as well as the devout, must bear witness to the Fall through suffering. But for one who is in Christ, the cross is not only a consequence of common sin, but the key to glory. That manner of speaking is Christian. While the followers of Mohammad (for example) find glory in the idea of martyrdom, theirs can only be an empty hope based on a word of man, rather than the one patterned on the death and resurrection of God-made-flesh. In this sense, Christianity necessarily stands apart. But how many Christians live in the light of this truth?

A custom-fitted cross for each individual has been arranged by God’s omniscience. The Imitation lists among them: being troubled by a neighbor, refusing honors, submitting to insults, welcoming ridicule, bearing adversity or loss, voluntary poverty; and here’s one we scarcely hear mentioned: ‘being a burden to yourself’ which, I take it, means recognizing your own unbecoming faults that others notice and trying to overcome them (that’s an interpretation of mine, however, a gloss, as they, on the text). In any case, everyone will experience something of this kind. And if you think that you should be an exception to this rule, then you are indeed deluded and full of pride. If there had been a better way of going about the process of salvation, Christ surely would have revealed it. Even a soul as favored as that of Saint Paul’s, which was transported ecstatically into the third heaven, was not spared. We ought to consider that if we have been allowed to suffer with a Christly frame of mind, that this in itself is a great gift, for, as the Imitation says, we are not worthy even to suffer for the sake of Christ’s name.

When the disciples in the early Church felt the scourge of rejection and imprisonment they were encouraged with this thought: “we have to endure many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God.”

Our cross then is our ticket of entry into heaven. It is also our badge of Christian identity. We should wear it well.

Don’t forget that at the end of Mass will again say the rosary in common, for world peace.