Homily of
Fr. Herbert Nicholls
The Cross of Christ is
the only way that leads us to true wisdom and prudence. Though one, through no
fault of his own, may be ignorant, no one can ever be indifferent to it. It
demands choice. Some see the message of the Cross, the word of the Cross as utter
folly. Others discover that the Cross is the power of God, who through it has
conquered satan and sin.
St. Theodore the
Studite wrote in Oratio in adorationem
crucis: O Most precious gift of the Cross, how splendid to gaze upon you.
You are a tree which begets life, without causing death, which sheds light
without casting shadows; which leads to paradise and does not expel anyone. You
are the tree which Christ ascended as a King mounting His chariot to defeat the
devil, who usurped the power of death. On your wood, Our Blessed Lord, valiant
fighter in combat was wounded in His divine hands and feet and side, by so
doing He healed the effects of sin and the wounds which the pernicious dragon
had inflicted upon our human nature.
St. Thomas Aquinas
wrote: The message of the Cross is something which to human wisdom seems
impossible, that God could die, or give Himself up to the power of violence. It
is a message which seems to be contrary to worldly prudence. After stressing
the importance of the message of the Cross, St. Paul contrasts the wisdom of
God with the wisdom of men. This human wisdom cannot attain knowledge of God by
demanding earthly signs because it accepts only rational arguments (cf. 1 Cor
1: 18-25).
In his gospel, St.
John tells us of this incident occurring at Passover (cf. John 12: 20-32). Two
Greeks came to Philip who had a Greek name and came from Bethsaida in Galilee,
a fishing village of Greek migrants. It might be presumed that he could
interpret for them. If that is indeed the case, then this is a very important
moment in which people of non-Jewish or Gentile culture come in search of the
Christ. They have heard and they want to hear more. They wished to speak with
Jesus Himself.
Instead, Jesus sends
them back with a parable: a lesson for them and for every Christian: If the
grain of wheat does not die it remains unfruitful. Do you want to be a grain of
wheat? To die through mortification in order to yield a rich harvest through
glorification? Jesus links suffering with glorification when He says: The Son of Man has come to be glorified. In
this manner He links the mystery of being raised up to the Father with that of
attracting all to Himself (vertical and horizontal dimensions of the mystery).
Here, Jesus again
makes reference to the hour which is
approaching. The hour is initiated at Cana when His Mother asked Him for a
miracle (cf. John 2: 1 -12). At first seeming reluctant, His Mother simply
replied: Do whatever he tells you. Christ’s
response ushered in the hour of dusk, the beginning of darkness.
Again on the Cross, He
referred to the hour which is now
here. The “hour” refers to His entire three year ministry and to the years that
pass following our initial encounter and accent to Him the hour in which we
follow the advice of our Holy Mother: Do
whatever He tells you.
But it is in this
moment for Him and ultimately for us that Redemption and Glorification are
united through death. Our Lord has spoken about His sacrifice being a condition
for entering into His glory. What holds true for Jesus, also holds true for us
His disciples.
Jesus wants each of us
to be of service to Him. It is a mystery of God’s plan that He, who is all, who
has all, and who needs nothing and nobody, should choose to need our help to
ensure that His teaching and the salvation earned by Him shall be made known to
the ends of the earth.
To sum up we can
distinguish four steps in order to ascertain whether we are identified with
Christ throughout this ‘hour’.
The first is to seek
Him, not to presume that He will seek you. Many never reach nor above the first
step. You must seek Him first and foremost within yourself, seek Him with
hunger and with all your strength.
If you survive with
determination the battles through this first step, you are guaranteed to find
Him. And your heart will hunger beyond your imagination to get to know Him; the
only human relationship that can be compared would be ‘love at first sight’. As
you get to know Him, love Him, converse with Him, you will become one with Him.
Don’t be deceived to
think that Jesus is so different than you; after all He is God, who became
human in order to show us how to live the mystery of life. The thought of death
that awaited Him saddened and frightened Him. He turned to His Father in prayer
in Gethsemane. As man He sought support both in the love of mankind and the
strength of His Father to fulfill His mission.
We should find this
very consoling as we often feel weak in moments of trial. Like Jesus we can
find support and strength from the arms of a loving Father, and from the arms
of our brothers and sisters whom Jesus tells us are our rock and fortress.
In His plan of
Salvation, Jesus wants us to use things which to our minds seem foolish, so
that His wisdom and power will shine. All thar Jesus has done for us has been
necessary and advantageous to our salvation. If by the power of His divinity He
has released us from the captivity of sin, He has also through the weakness of
human flesh destroyed the power of death. Possessing the nature of God, and
being equal to God, He abased Himself taking the form of a slave; being great
He became little. Through this mystery,
death has freed us from death, life has freed us from error, and grace has
freed us from sin (St. Bernard).