Christmas and the hope of the Cross
Eighty-two-year-old Morris went to the doctor for a physical. Two days later, the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman. The doctor says, "You're really doing great, aren't you?"
Morris replied, "Just doing what you said, Doc: 'Get a hot mamma and be cheerful.'"
The doctor said, "I said, 'You've got a heart murmur; be careful.’"
When it comes to pain and suffering, it is hard to be cheerful. Most of us are familiar with the agony of suffering. Sometimes we experience the loss of a loved one during the Christmas Season. Ultimately, we need reminders about how Christmas gives the greatest meaning to suffering.
It is hard for us to get the story straight. Medieval Christians greeted each other with “Happy Roodmas” on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross which we celebrate on September 14. They would recall the story behind this tradition:
There’s a serpent on the cross that comes with promised hope. Cold morning dew dripping down its bronze tail. It hangs on a cross erected in a camp at the foot of the unforgiving Sinai.
Would help come from a mere serpent made of bronze? …it has panacea that suffocates our snake bite wounds with anti-venom. It saves our wailing women and dying children.
…A dark cloud occasionally descends from the mountain, shaking the earth with his undeniable presence. Lights that crawl on perpetual fog escort the rumbling voice . He frightens, he frightens, and yes, he frightens, yet we in our hearts know he is our only hope to the land of honey. (From iamwess.wordpress.com).
In the Creed we tell the story. First there was God. Then came the son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. Christmas. Then Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph is “Condemned by the Romans, is nailed on the cross. His blood, it is said, will sanctify the sins of humanity. It will clear the iniquities. If and only if you look up to the cross for that help.” (Numbers 21:8).
Advent serves a great purpose. It is through Advent that we pray and meditate our way into the joy Christmas brings. Saints and Emperors devoted their lives to finding the power of the Cross.
Later centuries reflect our continued search to understand the power of the Cross. St Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, devoted her life to finding this power. Why should we be different? Pain brings wealth.
Seven months before she died St Theresa of Lisieux, the Little Flower, penned a poem to her Guardian Angel. She asks her Angel to tell others about the sweet cross we can bear in “Jesu’s name”.
All her life Theresa tried to rescue souls from sin through the bearing of her daily crosses. We can joyfully offer our sufferings “to God on high.” She says:
The Host in the ciborium bright
Is mine, and all the wealth pain brings
So with the Cross, and with the Host
Can we now dry the tears that pain brings and embrace the sweetness of meaningful suffering in the Cross of Christ? Jesus tells us “You will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy” (John 16:20).
When it comes to our pain and suffering, we want God to intervene. We will lose the battle for good health and fitness, but death is not the end. It is the beginning. It is only through the birth of Jesus that we will rejoice in Christ’s victory over death.
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