As I sit at my desk in New Jersey looking at this blinking screen, I ponder the statement, “There is hope in the cross.” Really? Can one find hope in an ancient vehicle for death? I came across a poem online, entitled Splinter from the Cross, that illustrates this idea without saying anything specifically about hope. The author is unknown.
“Little headaches, little heartaches. Little griefs of every day. Little trials and vexations, how they throng around our way! One great cross, immense and heavy, so it seems to our weak will, might be borne with resignation, but these many small ones kill. Yet all life is formed of small things, little leaves, make up the trees, many tiny drops of water blending, make the mighty seas. Let us not then by impatience mar the beauty of the whole, but for love of Jesus bear all in the silence of our soul. Asking Him for grace sufficient to sustain us through each loss, and to treasure each small offering as a splinter from His Cross.”1
This poem reminds me of what I have read in the book Mercy and Hope: “The Cross, not the Resurrection, is the true symbol of hope. The Cross testifies to the hope exhibited by Christ. And the Resurrection proves that Christ’s hope on the Cross was well founded.… We embrace the Cross in our daily lives because of our great need of hope. As we suffer here on earth, separated from the full communion with God that we will enjoy in Heaven, we are called to persevere in hope. We look to the Cross for hope. We recognize the greatness of the Cross that our Lord carried successfully for us in comparison to the little crosses we carry, and are mindful that, for Christ, the Cross was not the end but a new eternal beginning.”2
As we find ourselves in the Liturgical season of Lent, contemplating the meaning of the Cross and how Jesus could willingly accept it for love of us, the Church whispers to us, “Pray, fast and give alms.” Pray to become closer to Christ so that His nearness transforms us to become the person that God had envisioned when we were created. Fast so that we can turn away from personal sin and look toward Christ. Giving alms does not merely encourage us to give monetarily to a charity or our parish. Rather, look at it as giving ourselves to someone in a unique way. Giving of our time is a way of dying to self so that we can experience a personal mini resurrection on Easter.
In short, Lent can show us in a graphic way our personal weakness. It’s a time in which we can grow in our self-knowledge and come to know and own our brokenness in a personal way. However, the season does not just make us focus on the things within us that need to be improved. Rather, those are the spots that, once embraced, become the places in which the Glory of God shines through. These are the “treasures in our small offerings” that we give to our bodacious God.
The Cross and hope are indeed synonymous! Let’s whisper, “Alleluia! Alleluia!”
1https://patgohn.net/2015/09/14/splinter-from-the-cross-this-little-poem-never-ceases-to-inspire-me/
2Pacer, Mike. Mercy and Hope. Lighthouse Catholic Publishing, 2015. Pg. 175-176.
By Sister Geralyn Schmidt, SCC, Special to The Witness
