The cross of Jesus Christ is central to our mission. Like the apostle Paul, we “preach Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2: 2). If we bear in our body the death of Jesus, it is with the hope that the life of Jesus, too, may be seen in our body (cf. 2 Cor 4:10). Through the eyes of our crucified Saviour we see the world which he redeemed with his blood, desiring that those in whom he continues to suffer will know also the power of his resurrection (cf. Phil 3: 10). OMI Constitutions and Rules, Constitution 4
Eugene’s conversion happened when he became aware that his past attitude and behavior was leading him to death, to mortal sin. He changed when his eyes were opened to recognize that he was bearing the death of Jesus in his life. He changed radically and in embracing new life, it was “with the hope that the life of Jesus, too” would be seen in his body. It requires consistent effort to maintain the effects of this new life, or else we are in danger of the “cheap grace” made famous by Bonhoeffer.
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We have the Cross – but it is the door that opens to resurrection!
I never cease to be amazed at how the Cross and resurrection fit together. Always the both for they are immutably a part of the other. And there is a responsibility that comes with receiving and being a part of both. I recognize too how the Church, our beloved Church is a part of this.
I think for a moment of Jesus on the cross, surrendering himself, giving himself as gift. He did not just ‘quit and give up’, but rather he said to the Father; into your hands I entrust, I hand over, I commit – myself – body and soul. The door that ‘opens to resurrection’. We will never experience one without the other.
Somehow the words of Constitution 4 take on a deeper realization. I find myself experiencing them more fully than I did yesterday or the day before that.
“…the hope that the life of Jesus, too, may be seen in our body. Through the eyes of our crucified Saviour we see the world…”
Yesterday we celebrated Mary’s surrender – her fiat, her oblation. Today we look at Jesus’s surrender, his oblation and how the cross is the bridge, the door to resurrection. This morning a deeper and fuller sense of what it is to live Jesus as our model – that he might be seen in our bodies. That we will live with his heart and see through his eyes. Becoming one with.
Today we stand in the light of the Cross and resurrection. We experience both in the many instances of our own lives. It is in that light that we are able to see through the eyes of our crucified and resurrected Saviour.