PART II

 

 

4. THE CROSS AND GOD INCARNATE

 

4. A. THE CROSS AND THE STAR OF DAVID

 

“Read this letter with attention, for it is written with the light of God"

 

 (St. Paul of the Cross, CP)

                            

We often compare the Trinity with a triangle: three sides but only one triangle. Human beings, made in the image of God, also reflect the Trinity. If an equilateral triangle representing God points down as if to reach out to Humanity, and if an equilateral triangle representing Humanity points up to God in aspiration to meet God, the two, when they overlap in a loving embrace, form the Star of David. (click link to view).This is where we meet in Christ, who is truly God and human… God Incarnate. He is the Light of the world who shows us the way.

 

Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. (click link to view).Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

(John 8:12)

 

He shows the divine way through his humanity for us to follow; and working through us, makes us His light in the world, so that others may see the way to follow. But it is Christ's light shining through us, just as the moon gets its light from the sun.

 

You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14)

 

What brighter light can shine more eloquently, as Christ dying on the cross for love of us, showing us the Way. From the wood of the crib to the wood of the Cross, from His birth till his death, He is the shining star of David, shining the brightest, when hanging on the Cross. And the lights like the stars shine even brighter, the darker it is around us. This was clear when Jesus shone brightly in Love for us on Mt. Calvary, as the skies darkened around Him, reflecting the malice that surrounded him, until Jesus gave up His spirit for us.

 

"La luz del cielo encerrada en la cruz, ahora comienza a difundirse en la Iglesia para iluminar sus alegrías y dolores, sus derrotas y sus victorias."

(My English translation: "The light from heaven contained in the cross, now begins to be disseminated in the Church to enlighten their joys and pains, their defeats and their victories." (García 2002 p. 111)

 

Following the reflections of Teilhard de Chardin, we could fall into two extremes in life. One is the verticalistic approach to spirituality, angelistic, a disincarnated relationship, between God and ourselves, forgetting that human beings are incarnated spirits. The exclusive "me/God" approach, the "God as my personal savior", like a horse with blinkers on, who narrowly only sees what is in front, and not what is on the margins. This approach fails to see that "being in the world" is as important as "not being of the world". (cfr. John 17:15-16) Both aspects are important.  It's like unrealistically expecting to walk up a wall to reach God, which is impossible. A symbolic image that comes to mind that reflects this mentality is the altar server who handles the chalice and paten with white gloves. It is the "sacral" approach to spirituality, instead of Christ's way, which is a "sacred" approach, which brings the divine into the ordinary things of life as Teilhard reminds us. After all, the chalice and paten are the cup and plate that was used in the time of Jesus. Jesus celebrates the first Eucharist in the middle of the Pascal meal, speaking in Aramaic, while lying on cushions in front of a low table, facing the apostles. The culture in which one lives is important for the context in which we celebrate the Eucharist. This can vary in expressions within different cultures. The early Church in Rome adopted the culture of the Romans: facing away from the people at an altar, celebrating in Latin, etc. Even the detail of using a 'maniple' [1] which the priest wore for centuries', hanging from one of the arms, was a Roman handkerchief! This practice was dropped with the Liturgical reform after Vatican II. Let’s take as an example of being in tune with a region's culture today. Celebrating barefoot, for instance, in India is expressive of religion in that country; it was obviously in tune with Moses' culture as well:  he was asked to remove his sandals in front of the burning bush:

 

So Moses decided, "I must turn aside to look at this remarkable sight. Why does the bush not burn up?" When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called out to him from the bush: Moses! Moses! He answered, "Here I am." God said: Do not come near! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:3-5)

 

The other, incomplete approach in life, would be going to the other extreme, expecting to go through life without any effort to grow internally, or to live life as if God didn't exist, as if all depended only on us. We could even get involved in social work to help people, but it’s our work with no connection with God, which endangers us, to more likely become prideful in what we do. This is like walking the horizontal way in life with no growth, or worse, like gradually walking downhill, becoming less and less human. This becomes obvious when, in anger, one pit the poor with whom one identifies, against the wealthy. This attitude can be found in people who are inclined to become paranoid, becoming the rebel leader, leading people into a class struggle. It is easy to understand, when powerful wealthy people abuse their power, with no intention of changing. But this is not the right way to go. There is a difference between having a "preferential option for the poor" and an "option for the poor". The latter reflects a class struggle mindset, which is ideological. Saint Oscar Romero had this difficulty among some members of his clergy, who opted for violent uprising against the oppressive government, but he kept the balance of denouncing abuses while remaining very spiritually focused. This temptation is portrayed in the film "The Mission" (1986) where some Jesuits opted to fight the Portuguese in order to protect the rights of the Guaraní Indians. Historically though, it seems, that while much of the film had a truthful background, in this case, the Jesuits were ordered out of the mission before the fighting took place. The poor Guaraní were massacred by the Portuguese, destroying all the missionary work accomplished by the Jesuits. Ruins of the Jesuit missions (click link to view). still bear witness to that tragic past. The film, no doubt, reflected the theological conflicting thoughts of the period, of the 1970's and 1980's, as to how to deal with, and respond to, situations where power is abused.

 

Pope John Paul II in his introduction speech at The Bishops conference in Puebla (Mexico) followed by the document itself of the bishops, warned about this danger, bearing in mind, of many who had fallen into this ideological trap.

 

You are servants of the People of God, servants of faith, administrators and witnesses of Christ's love for men; a love that is not partisan, that excludes no one, although it is addressed preferably to the poorest. (St. Juan Pablo II. #4. 1/27/1979)

 

Volvemos a tomar, con renovada esperanza en la fuerza vivificante del Espíritu, la posición de la II Conferencia General que hizo una clara y profética opción preferencial y solidaria por los pobres, no obstante las desviaciones e interpretaciones con que algunos desvirtuaron el Espíritu de Medellín, el desconocimiento y aún la hostilidad de otros (Cfr. Juan Pablo II, Discurso inaugural: Introducción. AAS LXXI, p. 187).

Afirmamos la necesidad de conversión de toda la Iglesia para una opción preferencial por los pobres, con miras a su liberación integral. (Puebla # 1134)

 

My translation: We return with renewed hope in the life-giving force of the Spirit, to the position of the II General Conference which made a clear and prophetic call a preferential option for the poor, despite the deviations and interpretations of twisting the Spirit of Medellin which some have done or due to the lack of knowledge and even the hostility of others (Cfr. John Paul II. Inaugural: Discourse. Introduction. AAS LXXI, p. 187).

We affirm the necessity for the whole Church to a conversion for a preferential option for the poor, for the purpose of their integral liberation. (Puebla # 1134)

 

Pope Francis brings up this balance in his document of "Querida Amazonia"

 

This does not mean an alienating and individualistic religiosity that would silence social demands for a more dignified life, but neither does it mean ignoring the transcendent and spiritual dimension, as if material development alone were sufficient for human beings. We are thus called not merely to join those two things, but to connect them at a deeper level. In this way, we will reveal the true beauty of the Gospel, which fully humanizes,

integrally dignifies persons and peoples, and brings fulfillment to every heart and the whole of life. (Querida Amazonia #76)

 

The only path that will produce change in a possible and realistic way, is the diagonal route, the Christ-like route, where the vertical (divine) and horizontal (human) become one as expressed in the cross as we move forward along the "narrow" path (click link to view).

 

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction and those who enter through it are many. (click link to view). How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few." (Matthew 7:13-14)

 

This presupposes an effort on our part, as one walking up a mountain, strenuous, but possible, in response to the Holy Spirit, who urges us on the sacrificial path, which is carrying our own cross.

 

Then Jesus said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”. (Luke 9:23)

 

It requires living in a harmonious tension, like the strings on a guitar which only produce beautiful music when they are in a harmonious tension or as Heraclites would say, the strings of a harp. (Heraclitus of Ephesus. c.535-475 BC)  As we advance in life along the diagonal way, we can see things clearer and in a greater, wider context, just as we do when climbing the mountain, seeing everything around the mountain in an ever larger panoramic view, as we advance upward. As St. Pope John XXIII would say, we have to have one hand on the heart of God and the other on the earth. Or, as Jesus says in the gospel of John, "to be in the world but not of the world" as quoted previously (John 17:15-16). Or like the letter to Diognetus which expresses the reality of a true Christian in a very clear way:

 

Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign….

They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law. Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonor, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred....

To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world.

And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through…. (Letter to Diognetus)

 

In synthesis, I would say that the first Christians in Rome lived like everyone else, but were also very different from the rest…they lived in the world, but were not of the world…truly being, as Jesus says, like yeast in the dough.

 

He spoke to them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

(Matthew 13:33)

 

Or light in the world as mentioned previously (cfr. Matthew 5:14)

 

Or like salt of the world:

 

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Matthew 5:13)

 

Or like the mustard seed that grows into a large bush.

 

It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and "the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches. (Luke 13:19)

 

If the eucalyptus tree grew in the Holy Land at the time of Jesus, he could have used that as an example, because it would be more impressive than the mustard tree. The seeds of the eucalyptus look like dust in a pod, but some varieties of Eucalyptus grow into enormous trees, which would take 4 or 5 people with outstretched arms to embrace the circumference of the trunk. Both of these comparisons though, give various services to humans, like spice, in the case of mustard seeds, or Vicks, in the case of the eucalyptus leaves.

 

We could conclude by saying the key to this explanation, is combining faith with deeds. They are united.

 

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith with my deeds." (James 2: 14-18)

 

 

 

4. B. THE CROSS AND THE TWO TABLETS OF THE LAW

 

“We have received from God this commandment, that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

(St. Paul of the Cross, CP)

 

We know that the 10 commandments were written on two tablets: four written on one tablet to express our appropriate relationship with God, and the six other commandments, to express our appropriate relationships with humanity. Jesus quoted Scripture, synthesizes these into two basic commandments while responding to a scholar of the law:

 

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40) (or Mark 12:28-31)

 

But Jesus during the last supper goes further to bond these two into one, new and eternal commandment: to love one another as he has loved us. (click link to view).

 

"I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

 

And he shows us how throughout his life what true love is. However he shows it in the most powerful and convincing way, when he dies out of love for us on the Cross. The two tablets of the Law have now become one as the two beams of the Cross meet and connect while the Law in Person…the Word Incarnate…the Son of God,  who hangs on the Cross, pouring out His Life giving Love for our Salvation. This is one more symbolic example, together with the Star of David, that shows us what it means to be contemplating and incarnating in our life, a God who becomes human for us, so that we may become godlike. We will come back to this reality further on when we contemplate in our next point the relationship between the Crucified Christ and the crucified of today, the Mystical Body of Christ.

 

4. C. THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIED OF TODAY

 

In a year of great scarcity of wheat, Father Paul was at Civita Castellana, at the house of Signora Girolama Ercolani. This pious woman, conversing with the servant of God, complained of the scarcity of wheat and said to him, with all confidence, that she had not even enough wheat for use in the house. “How shall we be able this year,” she added, “to assist the poor? We shall be obliged to send them away without the usual alms of bread.” At these words the servant of God, as if touched to the heart by that tender compassion he had for the poor, burning interiorly with charity and with his countenance on fire, with strong arguments and expressions, counseled the lady to give the usual alms, encouraging her to hope strongly and to confide in that God who has promised superabundantly to reward works of charity. Encouraged by these words, the pious lady began to distribute bread bountifully to the poor, to those who came to the door as well as to other needy and unknown persons. The grain did not diminish, which was miraculous, as Signora Girolama and her daughter witnessed.

(St. Vincent Strambi, CP on St. Paul of the Cross, CP)

 

 

Incarnational spirituality, presupposes, as I mentioned before, the symbolic meeting point of the vertical beam with the horizontal beam of the Cross: love for God with our whole being, and love for our neighbor for as ourselves. This finds its meeting point in Christ. In fact, Christ in his new commandment says "to love one another as he has loved us". Interestingly, love for God is not mentioned, because he says we prove our love for God, whom we do not see, when we love one another, whom we do see.

 

"If anyone says, 'I love God' but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen."  (1 John 4:20)

 

Or as cited from "Lumen Gentium" quoting St. Paul in to the Ephesians, from the Vatican Council II:

 

But, the society structured with hierarchical organs and the Mystical Body of Christ, are not to be considered as two realities, nor are the visible assembly and the spiritual community, nor the earthly Church and the Church enriched with heavenly things; rather they form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element. (Cfr. Eph. 1:18) (Cfr. Lumen Gentium 8)

 

To love our Crucified Lord, in a very personal way, is intimately united to our personal outreach to concrete crucified people of today. Basically, we all need to reach out to each other, as we are all the crucified of today. However, we can highlight very significant painful situations. St. John Paul II, reminded bishops on the 28th of January 1979, at the inaugural speech to the bishops, at the III General Episcopal Latin American Conference at Puebla, Mexico, quoting from a document of Vatican Council II, that we are called  to serve the little ones, the poor, the marginalized, the needy, that reflect the suffering face of the Lord

 

Similarly, the Church encompasses with love all who are afflicted with human suffering and in the poor and afflicted sees the image of its poor and suffering Founder. It does all it can to relieve their need and in them it strives to serve Christ. (cfr Lumen Gentium 8)

 

Afterwards, the final document picks up on this theme, by describing eight situations, in which unjust, extreme actions create havoc and misery for countless people in Latin America, and where features of the suffering Christ question and challenges us. It mentions specifically 8 faces of the suffering Christ today (Puebla # 31-39):

 

Ø   the effects on exploited children, without possibilities of education; 

Ø   disoriented young adults, with no place to fit into society;

Ø   marginalized Indians, living in inhuman situations;

Ø   farmers, often thrown off their lands, which in turn are grabbed by large agro businesses;

Ø   those who are forced off their land, to find themselves landing up marginalized in the slums of cities

Ø   workers poorly paid, and with difficulties to organize in order to defend their rights;

Ø   unemployed and underemployed, fired, due to cold calculating economic pressures

Ø   elderly, pushed aside, considered non-productive in society.

 

The following is the text at Puebla in detail, which mentions the 8 faces of the Suffering Christ of today, which is mentioned, in essence, above, as well as other evils that afflict our times.

 

31.-the situation of pervasive, extreme poverty takes on very concrete faces in real life. In these faces we ought to recognize the suffering features of Christ the Lord, who questions and challenges us:

 

32.-the faces of young children, struck down by poverty before they are born, their chance for self-development blocked by irreparable mental and physical deficiencies; and of the vagrant children in our cities who are so often exploited, products of poverty and the moral disorganization of the family;  

33.-the faces of young people, who are disoriented because they cannot find their place in society, and who are frustrated, particularly in marginal rural and urban areas, by the lack of opportunity to obtain training and work;  

34.-the faces of the indigenous peoples, and frequently of Afro-Americans; living marginalized lives in inhuman situations; they can be considered the poorest of the poor;

35.-the faces of the farmers;  who as  a  social  group,  live relegated almost everywhere on our continent, deprived of land, caught in a situation of internal and external dependence, and subjected to systems of commercialization that exploit them;

36.-the faces of laborers, who frequently are ill-paid and who have difficulty in organizing themselves and defending their rights;

37.-the faces of the underemployed and the unemployed, who are dismissed because of the harsh requirements of economic crises, often because of development models that subject workers and their families to cold economic calculations;

38.-the faces of marginalized and overcrowded urban dwellers, whose lack of material goods is matched by the ostentatious display of wealth by other segments of society;

39.-the faces of old people, who are growing more numerous every day, and who are frequently marginalized in a progress-oriented society that totally disregards people not engaged in production.

40. We share other anxieties of our people that stem from a lack of respect for their dignity as human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, and for their inalienable rights as children of God.

41. Countries such as ours, where there is frequently no respect for such fundamental human rights - life, health, education, housing, and work-…, are in the situation where the dignity of the person is permanently violated.  

42.  To this are added other anxieties that stem from abuses of power, which are typical of regimes based on force. There is anxiety- caused systematic or selective repression; accompanied by accusations, violations of privacy, disproportionate constraints, tortures, and exiles. There is anxiety produced in many families due to the disappearance of their loved ones, about whom they are unable to get any news. There is the total insecurity because of arrests and detention without court orders. There is anxiety felt in the face of a system of justice that has been submitted or attacked. As the Supreme Pontiffs point out, the Church, by virtue of "an authentically evangelical commitment" (JPII opening discourse # 3), must raise its voice to denounce and condemn these situations, particularly when the responsible officials or rulers call themselves Christians. (Puebla 31-42)

 

We could add others evils, as we update the situation, since this document was written in 1979, so prominent today, like mass migrations, not only for financial reasons, but due to hunger caused by drought, as a consequence of global warming, or people escaping drug related violence, or political/religious persecution, ethnic cleansing, racial profiling, etc. These lead to endless, unjust measures, like those migrants who, escaping desperate situations, land up in the most horrible conditions, harshly abused verbally, physically and sexually. The cry of  traumatized children, separated from their parents at the border between U.S. and Mexico for long periods of time, while others make money over their imprisonment, are serious sins that cry out to God.  Think of children turned into soldiers or who are killed in order to sell their body parts, or those sacrificed to "gods" based on superstitious beliefs, or babies who are killed in their mother’s womb as a way of solving problematic issues. We could also add pandemics caused by viruses, like the Coronavirus COVID-19, with massive deaths, many of which were caused by incompetent leaders, who disregard the advice of experts, and those who follow the bad example of political leaders. This led to complications for everyone, as the virus became impossible to get under control; it affected the economy, delayed getting us out of the lock-down, including for the younger generation who couldn’t get back to school, and became a danger for poorer people mostly "of color", who risked their lives, as they are forced to work for prolonged periods outside their home…they live for the most part in limited-space conditions, and have to count on public transport to get to work, endangering the lives of their families when they return home from work.

 

Pope Francis highlights the plight of the original nations of the Amazon in his post-synodal document in his exhortation addressing the situation in the Amazon:

 

We need to feel outrage, as Moses did (cf. Ex 11:8), as Jesus did (cf. Mk 3:5), as God

does in the face of injustice (cf. Am 2:4-8; 5:7-12; Ps 106:40). It is not good for us to become

inured to evil; it is not good when our social consciousness is dulled before “an exploitation that is leaving destruction and even death throughout our region… jeopardizing the lives of millions of people and especially the habitat of peasants and indigenous peoples”.[2]

The ye’kuana women were raped and their breasts amputated, pregnant women had their children torn from the womb, men had their fingers or hands cut off so they could not sail… along with other scenes of the most absurd sadism”. [3] (Querida Amazonia 15)

 

 

Statistics in 2020, show that 9 million people die each year of hunger, worldwide, while 1 in every 9 people on earth go to bed hungry each day. [4]

 

No doubt the polarization of wealth in the hands of a very few, in contrast to the miserable condition of millions, which becomes worse as time goes by, is a scandal in itself. As a saying of Quino, a cartoonist from Argentina goes, and which certainly applies in probably most cases:

 

"Nadie puede amasar una fortuna sin hacer harina a los demás" (Quino)  (which translated to English means: "You cannot amass a fortune without making flour out of others")

 

There is no doubt a lack of balance between the "haves in excess" and the "have nots". There will always be economic differences between groups of people, but the extremes that lead to billions living without the most basic needs in life, like food and shelter, is an abomination.

 

The Conference of bishops in Brazil stated in an important document in 1976, denounced  the evil of the "Doctrine of the National Security" implemented in their country by the Military Regime since 1974. It also states, that the Church reclaims for the poor, no longer crumbs that fall from the table of the wealthy, but a more just distribution of the wealth. (CNBB-1976)

 

We have countless examples of this lack of balance in history where injustice cries out to heaven. Bishop Hélder Câmara in his book "Spiral of Violence" calls this violence number one, which ultimately leads to an explosive situation of violent, reaction by the ones affected by the injustice, which then becomes violence number two. Finally, violence number three, is the repression from the "status quo" to keep the "peace". This "peace" though, is not a true one, as people live under fear. As others say: it’s the "peace of the cemetery", a deadly one. Unfortunately this unbalance in our society today, is particularly dangerous as the tensions in countries and between countries has reached an alarming level, not to mention the danger to our planet's survival, due to the greedy abuse of humanity, especially by the powerful few. No wonder the Lord said:

 

"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25; Matthew 19:24; Luke 18:25)

 

Pope John XXIII, in his Encyclical "Pacem in Terris" in 1963, highlights the importance of the rights and obligations of individuals and of the state, as well as the proper relations between states. Unfortunately, this is far from being implemented. How often do we hear about individual rights being trampled upon, and civil leaders speak about defending their country’s interests, without mentioning the need to defend the interests also of all nations.

 

Pope Paul VI dedicated an Encyclical on the development of peoples. He mentions that the economy of the world should serve everyone, and not just the few. (Populorum Progressio 1967) It also indicates that no matter how good of a government a particular country has, while accompanied with all the needed resources, if there is no change in how our economic system works around the world, the rich are destined to become richer and the poor, poorer. And since then, in 1967, when the document was written, this has proven to be true.

 

According to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report in 2019,

 

Ø   the world’s richest 1 percent, those with more than $1 million, own 44 percent of the world’s wealth.

Ø   Their data also shows that adults with less than $10,000 in wealth, make up 57 percent of the world’s population, but hold less than 2 percent of global wealth. [5]

 

Pope Francis mentions that the problem with governments today is that they cater toward the interests of a few, while excluding the rights of everyone. This message actually is at the heart of the Encyclical of Populorum Progressio.

 

A profound Native American saying reminds us that:

 

When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money. (a Native American saying from the 1800's)

 

The list goes on and on. In truth every one has crosses to bear, those through no fault of their own, and those that are a consequence of sin. Robert Kaplan writes prophetically about "The Coming Anarchy", in Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1994: 44-76. In truth, in our present age, this is becoming more and more of a reality.

 

I find it interesting to compare the English and Spanish version of the Afro-American spiritual hymn: "Were you there when they crucified…" The English original version focuses on our direct and personal contact with the Suffering Christ. This is important, but could be exclusive, if not bearing in mind the 'horizontal' dimension of love mentioned previously. The Spanish version, however, is more incarnational, as it embraces also the crucified of today:[6]

1. Cuando un niño con hambre pide pan,    (when a child who is hungry pleads for bread)
   cuando llora pues nunca se lo dan.      (when he cries because no one gives him any)
   ¡O! Tiemblo por ti, Jesús:      (Oh!  I tremble for you, Jesus)
   sufres, lloras, mueres,      (you suffer, cry, die)
   con los niños de hambre, mueres Tú.    ( with the hungry kids, you die)

2. Mueres Tú cuando un hombre esclavo está,      (You die when a person is a slave)
   cuando grita pidiendo libertad.      (when he cries out pleading freedom)
   ¡O! Tiemblo por ti, Jesús:     (Oh! I tremble for you, Jesus)
   sufres, lloras, mueres,       (you suffer, cry, die)
   con los hombres esclavos, mueres Tú.     (with enslaved people, you die)

3. Cuando siento que el mundo en guerra está,   (when I hear that the world is at war)
   que el hermano al hermano matará.    ( in which brother will kill brother )
   ¡O! Tiemblo por ti, Jesús:     (Oh! I tremble for you, Jesus)
   sufres, lloras, mueres,    (you suffer, cry, die)
   con los hombres que mueren, mueres Tú.    (with those people who die, you die)

4.  Cuando pasas enfermo junto a mí, (when you pass by me in sickness)
    cuando olvido tu hambre y tu sufrir.  (when I forget your hunger and suffering)
    ¡O! Tiemblo por ti, Jesús:        (Oh! I tremble for you, Jesus)
    sufres, lloras, mueres,       (you suffer, cry, die)
    por mi absurdo egoísmo, mueres Tú,   (because of my absurd selfishness, you die)

This not only is incarnational, but very personal, as with it, we engage with real people, not just those who hunger in abstract, but with a concrete child asking for bread, or the sick person whom I encounter. My personal relationship with the Crucified Jesus is complimented with the suffering person I meet along the way, like Jesus who interacts with people, and gives us examples; e.g., the parable of  the good Samaritan, that took care of the beaten up man he saw along the way.

 

A reminder: the  two beams of the cross are intimately united: love for God and love for humanity…the new commandment. Let's not forget either, the words of Jesus, when he says:

 

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Mathew 7:21)

 

Once again, referring to the Brazilian Bishop's document of 1976, they remind us that God does not only speak to us through the Bible and through the Church, but also through events that happen as we attempt to find the way of the Lord in the midst of these events. (CNBB-1976).

 

 

 

5. THE CROSS AND THE TREE OF LIFE

 

INDEX

 

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