The Success of the Cross

On the Cross, Christ saw love through to the end. For all the differences there may be between the accounts in the various Gospels, there is one point in common: Jesus died praying, and in the abyss of death He upheld the First Commandment and held on to the presence of God. Out of such a death springs this sacrament, the Holy Eucharist… Did Jesus fail? Success is definitely not one of the names of God and it is not Christian to have an eye to outward success or numbers. God’s paths are other than that. His success comes about through the Cross and is always found under that sign. The true witnesses to His authenticity, down through the centuries, are those who have accepted this sign, as their emblem…

What strengthens our faith, what remains constant, what give us hope, is the Church of the suffering. She stands, to the present day, as a sign that God exists and that man is not just a cesspit, but that he can be saved… The Church of the suffering gives credibility to Christ: she is God’s success in the world; the sign that gives us hope and courage; the sign from which still flows the power of life, which reaches beyond mere thoughts of success and which thereby purifies men and opens up for God a door into this world.

So let us be ready to hear the call of Jesus Christ, who achieved the great success of God on the Cross; He who, as the grain of wheat that died, has become fruitful down through all the centuries; the Tree of Life, in who even today men put their hope.