The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1924. THE SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS

New Zealand Tablet, 17 April 1924, Page 29

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1924. THE SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS

FTER hanging for three hours on the cross,

Our Lord died. Consummatum est\ His cry meant that - sufferings had ended in death and His mission was accomplished according to God’s will. Justice was satisfied; sin blotted out; and He was- ready to die. He had endured the agony, of the strife with death. When He called out; Father , into Thy hands 1 commend My spirit, it was with

humble confidence He gave back to the Father His life. And then, the painful death-struggle; the head sinks to His shoulder; a. last sigh, and He breathes forth His soul. A soldier comes forward and pierces His side with a lance; the final sacrifice, this blood that drips from His torn heart! Darkness gathers round Him; in its midst a ghostly light makes visible the stark body hanging on the cross. The

eyes of all the Christians of all time have seen it since/ to the crack of doom it will remain visible , to .saints and

sinners, that pale,- wounded body on the cross on Calvary.

..5. * . ... All the truths of our religion are centred-round the cross: it justifies and illustrates them all. In storm and darkness it is a. beacon: it enables us to feel the' reality of whatever God deigns to reveal to us; it explains the meaning of love; it lights the abysses of our own' human hearts for us; it points the way that leads to the attainment of our last end ; it is a sign that warns us of dangers, to be shunned. The cross is the pulpit from which Christ teaches us what we ought to do and what to avoid ; ft is the symbol of Christian character, reminding us to stand upright and to bear Christ within ourselves; it is the guarantee that every self-sacrifice made for God,’ sake will have its reward ; ; it reminds us that the closer we cling to it, the , more we shall please God. The cross of Christ is our . support and protection. All other supports will be torn away from us.; but'at the end the cross will still be with. until it brings us to rest in the lasting city beyond the grave. ... The cross, ■ the sign of weakness and the instrument for the punishment of malefactors, has become the object of deep spiritual love. Christianity has produced in r the hearts of its children no richerfruit than- love-r of the cross. ' Heathen sageA wer’e able to bear things hard for * human ... nature - but -to s seek out the cross, to love it and thank God for it, that is only -for : the followers'.of' Christ. - One - can never exhaust the >V. ■ . ‘ : ' . St.- I S

lessons- of the cross, -it stands, by : the wayside and gives to the weary passer-by the . message: of comfort-that -his- crosses--and trials lead him to Heaven; it shines from its place of r honor on the altar, - and ■ on - it the outstretched arms "of ; Christ welcome the friendless and’ the suffering and- cheer them and comfort them by reminding them of the deaf companionship that sorrow' gives ; it hangs on the walls of the room, where hidden from the world, the saint finds new’ strength in it, or the sinner derives courage from the thought that Christ died for us all; it; is clasped in the, . arms of the dying and' whispers to the fearful spiil*Xt§©* r consoling message that the Christian faces the Judge,, not, ■ naked or depending on himself, but clothed ith the merits; of L Christ’s Passion; it is before i us- morning , and noon., and night to proclaim to us that He died for all that they t also who live,, may not now live : to'., themselves, but until' Him who died for.them, and rose again. (2 Cor. v. 15). GnT the cross Christ is ever with ns. In joy and sorrow', v in l trials and: humiliations, .He calls us to follow Him/-AhcF He also tells us- that to do that we must deny ohfselvbs ' and carry our own crosses in His footsteps. We" must bo' willing to give up our ease and pleasure; we must .conquer/ our evil inclinations; we must keep united with Christ ’ through prayer and mortification. We cannot have the' cross and the world at thd same time. We must make our choice: there is no-real union -with Him except . through ; denial of self; and there is no real prayer without hard-f ship and mortification. To follow the cross means a com. stant warfare. The warfare is not easy, because'/ it is a, fight against self-dove and selfishness; and it is only in the cross we can find strength to endure it to the end. ■ * , •. No words are so often and so lightly spoken as God’s inll be done. But we must learn to say them: from our" marts, with deepest conviction and resignation, with per- ' feet abandonment and submission, before we can advance on the road of the cross. _When we can see health arid" honor and wealth come and go, with'peaceful minds, per-, fcctly resigned to-the will of -God, we are .beginning

. . J 111 lit lII* , Uf. « make progress. The true follower of Christ will boate cheerfully whatever God sends, seeking no comfort ; and having no end but to do God’s will. And not until such s detachment ,s attained will the soul be able to taste thew sweetness of union with Christ and to know the perfect peace winch is His gift to His own. A little cross out-’ ; weigrs a hundred . prayer hooks;, one day of silent and patient endurance of suffering sent from God’s hand is ,\ e er. than a century of Public works of benevolence. What'" then must be the merit of a life-long effort to make real' : for ourselves, the prayer: Thy will bo done! To do that"' means carrying the cross for life, overcoming ourselves’-' accepting humiliations, - enduring slights and wrongs, parcelling 1 enemies, guarding our lips, keeping clean our. hearts, '! con ro mg our senses, .praying at all times, . embracing, .in ■- a word the cross of a l truly Christian life. To do that sue- : cessfully . is harder than to lay our heads on the block,harder than to give our lives for a friend: it is, -in fine to achieve what the saints did. From Calvary the lonely - figure shining from the cross in the 'darkness invites us o d all .this; pp- eacb. Good Friday the call comes to us J in clearer accents than.at other times in the'busy year. v Conscious of past failures, mindful, of broken resolutions our human nature urges us to reply that we are not .able or the burden. But grace suggests to us that past failures' ; ought to teach us humility and that ' broken resolutions ought -to convince us of .the folly of leaning on! our own strength And- the ; words; sung 'at 1 the Mass' of- the Pro?-' sanctified bid us have courage and look up to the cross' with hope in Him who; is strong and holy and so full pf'.: ove for us that He died to make .it , possible for all men to suffer for His sake as He did for theirs. :' . :- 4-

- . The humble.are truly.the,born rulers-of nreh, for havuml won the victory over themselves they have learned to rule 3 and no one can tHemrbf ’personal * ends Cor*. nn- *« ™>rthy motiyes. Sihgle.mm<%d, self-controlled, gentle,' ihd f always considerate^ they world: to their feet. -5