The reality of the absolute goodness of God is compellingly represented in the Crucifix.
Rabbi Zolli (who had been the chief rabbi of Rome during the Pontificate of the Venerable Pope Pius XII, and became Catholic) says in his autobiography Before the Dawn that it was a crucifix that he saw when he was in grade school--a crucifix in a pious Catholic home--that first introduced him to the goodness and the love of God in Jesus.
"Stanislaus (Zolli's childhood friend) was good, gentle, studious, and intelligent. I felt that he hand his mother liked me. We boys never became boisterous or disorderly during our study or in the intervals. It seemed that in that white room, and in the presence of the crucifix, one could not help being serene, gentle, and good. Sometimes--I did not know why--I would raise my eyes to that crucifix and gaze for a long time at the figure hanging there. This contemplation, if I may call it that without exaggeration, was not done without a stirring of my spirit." pp. 23-24. "Why was this mans crucified? I asked myself. Was he a bad man? Are all the wicked crucified? Why did so man (good) people follow Him if He was so wicked?...of one thing I was certain: He was good."
This is one instance of a Jewish boy who believed in Jesus because of a simple crucifix on a wall in a good Catholic home. It is one example of the compelling and transforming power of the Cross of Christ. Venerate the Cross. Kiss the Cross. Love the Cross, especially when the world,the flesh, fail you--especially in articoli mortis (there is a plenary indulgence for kissing the Cross on your death bed: offer your suffering in union with Christ.
In addition to the crosses on our walls and on our necklaces the cross is above all an action. We bless ourselves always with the sign of the Cross: at the beginning and at the end of every Mass (which is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary--the crucifix is required therefore over every altar, so that priest and people are facing the one Lord on the Cross who is the principle priest at every Mass renewing that same offering to the Father for our sins: here is my body and here is my blood for the forgiveness of sins. Every prayer we say we sandwich between this sign of our salvation. We sign our foreheads, our lips, our hearts with the Cross. These signings are significant, because the Cross is a means also of our offering to God: we offer ourselves and everything we do to God through Jesus. Every Christian prayer (and indeed every Christian action) is a prayer of sacrificial offering in union with Jesus Christ crucified.
Happy Feast of the Triumph of the Cross which is also the seventh anniversary of Summorum Pontificum to the glory of God and exaltation of Holy Mother Church.
N.B. Divine Mercy is the interior logic of the Cross. Cf. Sant'Andrea della Valle.
It's good to celebrate the Cross, lest we get discouraged by the vicissitudes of life! True greatness is within the reach of all: cf. Luke 6:27-38.
Rabbi Zolli (who had been the chief rabbi of Rome during the Pontificate of the Venerable Pope Pius XII, and became Catholic) says in his autobiography Before the Dawn that it was a crucifix that he saw when he was in grade school--a crucifix in a pious Catholic home--that first introduced him to the goodness and the love of God in Jesus.
"Stanislaus (Zolli's childhood friend) was good, gentle, studious, and intelligent. I felt that he hand his mother liked me. We boys never became boisterous or disorderly during our study or in the intervals. It seemed that in that white room, and in the presence of the crucifix, one could not help being serene, gentle, and good. Sometimes--I did not know why--I would raise my eyes to that crucifix and gaze for a long time at the figure hanging there. This contemplation, if I may call it that without exaggeration, was not done without a stirring of my spirit." pp. 23-24. "Why was this mans crucified? I asked myself. Was he a bad man? Are all the wicked crucified? Why did so man (good) people follow Him if He was so wicked?...of one thing I was certain: He was good."
This is one instance of a Jewish boy who believed in Jesus because of a simple crucifix on a wall in a good Catholic home. It is one example of the compelling and transforming power of the Cross of Christ. Venerate the Cross. Kiss the Cross. Love the Cross, especially when the world,the flesh, fail you--especially in articoli mortis (there is a plenary indulgence for kissing the Cross on your death bed: offer your suffering in union with Christ.
In addition to the crosses on our walls and on our necklaces the cross is above all an action. We bless ourselves always with the sign of the Cross: at the beginning and at the end of every Mass (which is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary--the crucifix is required therefore over every altar, so that priest and people are facing the one Lord on the Cross who is the principle priest at every Mass renewing that same offering to the Father for our sins: here is my body and here is my blood for the forgiveness of sins. Every prayer we say we sandwich between this sign of our salvation. We sign our foreheads, our lips, our hearts with the Cross. These signings are significant, because the Cross is a means also of our offering to God: we offer ourselves and everything we do to God through Jesus. Every Christian prayer (and indeed every Christian action) is a prayer of sacrificial offering in union with Jesus Christ crucified.
Happy Feast of the Triumph of the Cross which is also the seventh anniversary of Summorum Pontificum to the glory of God and exaltation of Holy Mother Church.
N.B. Divine Mercy is the interior logic of the Cross. Cf. Sant'Andrea della Valle.
It's good to celebrate the Cross, lest we get discouraged by the vicissitudes of life! True greatness is within the reach of all: cf. Luke 6:27-38.
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