This Sunday celebrates the Feast of the Exultation of the
Holy Cross. Over the centuries we have
sanitized the cross and as we go about out busy lives, giving little thought to
the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for our salvation. His gruesome torture and death were the
price Jesus paid to redeem us from sin.
In doing so, Jesus fulfilled the many prophecies about God’s plan for
our salvation. When Moses fashioned the
bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, he was prefiguring the Holy
Cross. Israelites who had been bitten by
serpents were saved from death by looking upon the bronze pole. This presents an allegory for all of us who
have been bitten by the evil of sin, but are saved by the Cross of Jesus. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus save
us from eternal death, if only we believe in Him and His saving act.
Believing in God and the Trinity is an act of faith, but
faith without reason can itself be perverted to evil. St. John introduces his gospel with the
words, “In the beginning was the Word (Logos)…”
The Greek word Logos, means “reason,”
and God is reasonable. Therefore it is
contrary to reason to act contrary to God who created humanity with the ability
to reason. If we separate faith from
reason, it leads to fundamentalism which can become so extreme that it acts
contrary to God. Islamic extremism is an
example of faith without reason, acting contrary to the nature of God who is
loving and forgiving. Pope Benedict XVI
pointed this out eight years ago, the day after the fifth anniversary of the September
11th attacks. For his
efforts, the pope was severely criticized by the press and many Christians who
were afraid of offending Moslems. The
pope was warning the world about the rising violence of Islamic extremism and
urging Islamic leaders to condemn the spread of religion by means of
violence. Spreading faith by means of
violence rather than persuasion and reason, is contrary to what we know about
the nature of God who created us with free will, and who taught us to love and
forgive one another as He loves us.
Pope Benedict’s comments included a quote from a late-14th
century emperor who was faced with imminent invasion from Muslims. Byzantine Emperor Manuel II said, “Show me
just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil
and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword, the faith he preached.” As it turns out Manuel II was the last
Christian emperor of the Byzantine Empire which was overrun by the Ottoman
Turks not long after the emperor’s remarks.
Pope Benedict, again quoting
Emperor Manuel, made the following observation: “God is not pleased by blood,
and not acting reasonable is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul. Whoever would lead some to faith needs the
ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and
threats. To convince a reasonable soul
one does not need a strong arm or weapons of any kind or any other means of
threatening a person with death.”
Ironically, despite harsh criticism from Western Christians
and the press, Islamic leaders welcomed the pope’s comments and subsequently
agreed to interreligious dialogues to address Islamic extremism. These dialogues continue today and provide a
forum to discuss ways of discouraging Islamic extremism based on violence,
torture, and the brutal execution of anyone who refuses to adopt their
fundamentalist faith. Even King Abdullah
of Saudi Arabia visited the pope several times after the Regensburg speech, and
hosted in interreligious conference that included Christians, Jews, Hindus,
Buddhists and Islamic leaders. Ironically, that meeting had to be held in
Spain because non-Muslims cannot practice their faith in Saudi Arabia.
Those who blame religion for all war, fail to recognized
that it is not religion that precipitates wars, but extremism in its various
forms, and many of the greatest atrocities against humanity were perpetrated by
leaders trying to force atheism on the masses in the form of Communism. There have certainly been many extremist
Christians throughout history, and sinfulness has crept into every Church and
every denomination at one time or another.
This further makes the case for the importance of combining faith and
reason. As we examine the life of Christ,
we realize that His was a life devoted to revealing the nature and love of God,
even to the point of sacrificing His life for all of us who are so unworthy of
such love and forgiveness. Jesus
established His Church, not by means of violence, but rather with the message
of God’s love and forgiveness. Jesus was
crucified by men so committed to protecting their status as religious leaders
that they would kill the very Son of God for preaching the forgiveness of
sin. And yet, even in death, Jesus conquered
the world, just as He conquered death and rose from the grave. The good news of the forgiveness of sins and
eternal life are more compelling than the threat of death, as evidenced by the
many martyrs who sacrificed their own lives rather than reject their Christian
belief.
The persecution of Christians did not crush the fledgling
Church despite more than 200 years of oppression, and neither will the
persecution of Christians in the Middle East.
The real risk of losing our faith is our complacency and apathy towards
the message of the cross. This is why we
must persist in our prayer and study of Holy Scripture. Every Catholic reminds himself of the
importance of the cross by beginning and ending every prayer by making the sign
of the cross on his/her body. Every
Catholic Church prominently displays a crucifix with the tortured and dead body
of Jesus, rather than merely the barren cross, to remind us of the sacrifice
Jesus made on our behalf. We have been
saved, not by the wood of the cross, but by the death and resurrection of our
Lord and Savior who is Himself the flesh and blood Word of God, the Divine Logos.
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