The Fathers of our Church have sensed that a feeling of drudgery and tiredness creeps into the believers at the mid-journey of Lent; so the Fathers got concerned that we complete the journey without joy; and such absence of joy is, in a way, an anticipation of death while our vision is one of the Resurrection.
While writing this, I would have wished everybody to realize that Christianity which speaks not only in words but also through symbols, has made the Cross its symbol only because the Cross is a transformation from death to Life. Since the light of Christ is unquenchable, then the light of Pascha is all what there is proclaiming that Christianity is not a tragic religion which is shut off and closed but one in which the Lord, after the resurrection, appears to His disciples in a room though the doors are closed. And so even though one’s heart is closed, the Lord would still get in if the person wants so. He comes in to take away pain and sorrow; and whoever thinks that Christianity is a religion of inflicting pain and suffering on one’s self makes a mistake, even when that might bring some good. But the good is in not in the pain itself; but in being patient when enduring pain and suffering.
The stories of Christ in the Gospels are full of miracles He performed wanting to heal the sick; “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matt. 11: 5). But no one should think that he can receive Divine comfort and grace in being lazy. Sin is inevitable, but only through repentance can one come out of it and we cannot ascend (to God) on the ladder of repentance except through prayer.
Christ did not invent the cross. It was used as a punishment in Roman law. He only accepted it to make us know that through it we can move towards God. We are made ready through hardships that come our way to receive the grace that is poured down on us.
You can expect physical healing which we think of as brought about by God. And Psychiatry tries to deal with the complexes we have inherited but it does not deal with our spiritual well-being. It basically does not seek what is spiritual especially that its founder is an atheist. I do not say that prayer is a substitute for medical treatment. And the Saints encouraged people to seek medical treatment. But Man is “on the cross” with hardships that come his way until he receives the Divine mercy. No one invents his own personal cross. And maybe you do not like my use of the word “cross”. But its reality stands in the midst of our existence. We stick to the word because the cross brought us life when the Man of Nazareth accepted the crown of thorns and the piece of wood on which He was hanged and nailed.
When our Church assigned the readings for the day of the memory of the Cross, all the texts came similar to those read during Holy Week namely Holy Friday. As if the memorial of the Cross during Lent is an anticipation of Holy Friday. As if we cannot wait long till we get to Pascha so we remember that beforehand. And the theological readings we read in this period are similar to that of Pascha. We, in our Church, desire the foretaste of the joy of the season we are waiting for.
I do not remember which Muslim scholar had said centuries ago something like God does not allow a monotheistic community to remain in error for many centuries in its understanding of the Cross or to fall into a grand deviation, like the one attributed to it, from the truth. I have taken it upon myself not to rival others, but I am not the one who has uttered the above words. But I do not think that the greatest epic of love like the one we are considering here should be totally alien to the Divine Mind.
I do not know want to think that the myriads and myriads of martyrs who have been killed for that Love-story (of the Cross) or have died for its sake did that in vain and had died for a big lie; and if they had been deceived, who then is the deceiver? The great extent of holiness they got to was only accomplished because of their faith in what they considered to be their true salvation.
We who are fasting this Lent come to the Memorial of the Cross in the middle of Lent so that God would purify us from all our uncleanness, thus we inherit the Bearer of Life who is Christ.
We ask for divine forgiveness and the heavenly light and Life and true joy, and we know that those are glory itself. But before the descent of that glory upon us, we say “Lord do not rebuke us a sinful people in your anger, and do not chastise us in your wrath because you are good”.
Finally, what does the Cross, in the knowledge we are renewed, mean?
The idea of Christ’s death means nothing to us except that He, who is life, has entered the realm of the dead and deadened death. The whole story can be distilled in that with Jesus accepting suffering, He revoked suffering and granted those who believe in Him the power over all that is negative in this world.
But the triumph of the Resurrection makes us not forget those who are in suffering and are sick and makes us ready to carry them with us to Joy. We do not like to “crucify” any one and we wish that no one remains under the load of his cross. One Man carried the Cross so that no human being should remain bent under its load. We strive to ascend with all people to the peak of existence, that which we call Heaven. We hope that all people would arm themselves by triumphing over whatever in them that antagonizes Humanity.
We will go on fasting in God’s pleasure in the hope of getting to Pascha with all those who love Jesus and then pray that all humanity will be in Joy.
Translated by Riad Moufarrij
Original Text: “الفرح” – An Nahar – 17.03.2012
