A Low Sunday/Divine Mercy Sunday Thought

It's Low Sunday in the traditional calendar, Divine Mercy Sunday in the new-fangled. We remain firmly in the fold of the Easter Season, that most glorious time in the Liturgical Calendar. We also remain firmly ensconced in the C-Virus Mess that began over a year ago. We discussed this in some detail this past week.

So now it's Sunday, only a week from Easter. As mature Catholics, we're not looking to throw our Lenten discipline under the bus. We understand that penance and sacrifice form the basis of our not only our Catholic religion, but also the fundamental message that Our Lord tried to communicate during His public life, culminating in his suffering and death on the Cross. We may not enthusiastically embrace our own individual crosses at this point, but we know that life will always bring them on, both the little ones and the occasional (at least we hope occasional) big ones. 

Live long enough, with at least a modicum of reflection from time to time, and you will understand the profound influence the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ has - or should have - on every aspect of our lives. It's not something we study. It's not something that we recognize once a year on Good Friday. When we say our rosary and handle the crucifix, we touch the Cross, but that's not the only time the Cross touches us.

The joy and hope of Easter comes to us only through the Cross. In the 1962 Missal, the Introit for Holy Thursday begins: "But it behooves us to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: in Whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection: by Whom we are saved and delivered." We are immediately given this hearty food to enlighten our minds and enliven our souls as we enter into the mystery of the Last Supper, the Passion and Death of Our Lord, and His glorious Resurrection.

Now that Easter Week has passed, where is the Cross? Have we consigned it to some isolated part of our busy lives. Do we pay it homage but keep it at a distance? 

On Good Friday, the Cross loomed large overshadowing the world as Our Lord hung on it atop Calvary. When He died, His Body was taken down. After resting in the arms of His Mother, it was buried. But when He rose from the dead, we read how the wounds of the Cross remained in His glorious Body. He did not want us to consign this suffering and death to the past. While He does not suffer now, the wounds remain as a reminder. The Cross remains the root, the source of not only our spiritual life, but our daily thoughts, words, and deeds as well. When it informs these, we live as true Christians.

None of this minimizes the overwhelming joy and hope of this Easter Season. Indeed, it should enhance it, if we come to understand the true meaning of the Cross. Here's what Archbishop James Leen, C.S.Sp. had to say about it:

"The Cross of Christ is the symbol of the Christian way of living. It teaches that sacrifice is the essential condition of attaining the good the Savior won for men at the cost of His Precious Blood; and that sacrifice is the lot not only of the Savior, but of the saved as well. The Cross is not only for Christ, it is for the Christian also. The Cross is a sign, as a book is a sign, for men to read. It gives all Christians to understand that the Christian calling demands that each follower of Christ develop in himself that attitude of soul which was Christ’s, and which found its most significant expression in the Passion...”

That sums it all up, doesn't it? Easter doesn't negate the Cross, doesn't consign it to Good Friday. The Cross continually regenerates the joy and hope of Easter. Without the Cross, we have no joy, no hope.

More so, the Cross informs us daily. Our daily life must be imbued with the Cross. In Our Lord's suffering and death we find clear and certain examples and lessons to guide us throughout the day, every day. If we don't readily see this or understand it, it behooves us to take the time to gain that understanding. 

The purple of Lent has been set aside, its place taken by lily white of Easter. But the joy and hope of the Resurrection does not set aside the Cross. As Archbishop Leen teaches us, "The Cross is a sign, as a book is a sign, for men to read."

Happy Easter!