Crosses: Our Pathway to Virtues

Crosses. Some are heavier and more splintery than others. People can be crosses. Situations and circumstances can be crosses. Any injustice [whether real or perceived] that poses the potential to provoke us to growing in the Christian virtues can be a cross. This year [2020] has brought crosses into our lives that are difficult to carry. The closer to home the source of the cross is, the more grievous it is to bear.

I am learning to accept rather than fight against the humiliation that is inherently part of cross-bearing. I am not always successful in yielding my will to the tutelage of crosses. I fail more than I care to think about. I have to repent more than I care to think about. Crosses, replete with the humiliation they bring, are not our enemy. They are, in fact, tools in the hand of God that he uses to rasp and shape us into images of Christ.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians saying, “Let nothing be done through contention, neither by vain glory: but in humility, let each esteem others better than themselves: Each one not considering the things that are his own, but those that are other men’s. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.”[1]

Christ’s own humiliation resulted in his exaltation. All of the Saints, Eastern and Western, insist that we must resemble Christ in his life if we would have the benefit of his death. If we expect to experience the benefit of God’s compassion toward ourselves, we must be compassionate toward others.

We are taught that Christ came to humble us … that there is not be among us a spirit of pride or its close bedfellow greed. The Saints tell us that we must be quick in observing our own defects and treat our own faults with severity while always standing ready to make favorable allowances for others. We must kindly care for others, but not be busy-bodies in other men’s matters. True inward or outward peace is never achieved and enjoyed without the lowliness of mind that is brought about by humility.

I awoke the closing morning of August with Ephesians 5:11 bouncing around in my mind; where the Apostle Paul tells the followers of Christ at Ephesus to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. The whole 5th chapter is atomic and possesses the capability of completely altering the landscape of our lives.

Our lives need to be altered. We must be converted. This conversion entails far more than some mental assent or emotional experience. It is a long process. It is a hard-fought conflict that we choose to engage in where we bear and produce the Light of the world. “For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of light. For the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice, and truth.”[2]

We are called by Christ to live as children of light. It is not an option or elective. You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.[3]

Christians who are truly invested in living as children of light … light that reveals the surrounding darkness … set themselves up as targets in this world. Catholics and Protestants alike. More so though, I think, for Catholics. Especially Catholics living in the Bible Belt. We are still suffering the dire effects of the predatory scandals of a few priests and bishops. Good Catholic people still suffer reproach because of them. That is an infected wound that will likely ooze for another hundred years.

Living as children of light is a way of living that refuses to participate in the works of darkness.

Living in the light with the Light of the world necessarily carries with it the responsibility of speaking as representatives of the Light. The Apostle Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word: be instant in season, our of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned to fables.”[4]

All of us, according to our status and spiritual gifting, are called to be tellers of truth [bearers of the light of Christ] in this world that we live in.

Tellers of truth are called to live virtuous lives … virtuous lives that set us apart and show, beyond words that we speak, that we truly are followers of Christ as sons and daughters of God. We are called to advance in and develop Christian virtues. Earnest tellers of truth will always be met with opposition from those who prefer the cover of darkness.

This business of virtues is a very serious matter and one that is terribly neglected in these modern times. I do not recall a single homily by a parish priest extolling the necessity of advancing in and developing these crucial virtues. Why? Especially when the whole outcome of both our human and divine relationships are determined by these virtues. Effective catechesis is definitely deficient in the 21st Century Church.

The simple truth of the matter is that there is no advance or progress in the development of either the Cardinal [Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance] or the Theological [Faith, Hope, Charity] Virtues without practicing some form of personal discipline [asceticism]. Advancing in and developing these virtues simply does not happen as long as we are embracing compromises that let us conveniently dance with the devil and the devices he employs to destroy souls. I have danced that dance. The devil always wins.

[1] Philippians 2:3-8 [2] Ephesians 5:8-9 [3] Matthew 5:14-16 [4] 2 Timothy 4:2-4