“PROCESSING” THE NEWS, IN LIGHT OF THE CROSS
(February 13)
“Now the men who were holding Jesus mocked him and beat him; they also blindfolded him and asked him, ‘Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?’ And they spoke many other words against him, reviling him.” (Lk 22: 63-65)
Does it do us any good, to know the heartbreaking details of certain egregious crimes, like the ones described above? They blindfolded Him, beat Him, mocked Him, and apparently enjoyed it. You can’t “un-know” that; it stays with you, like stories and images that pop up in the news, of various forms of human cruelty, shamelessness, vandalism, etc. How can I “process” this information, that I might carry from it wisdom, rather than cynicism, about our humanity in general?
I can “process” it in the light of the dark story quoted above, of God’s only-begotten Son subjecting Himself to that kind of human darkness, in His kind of humanity. He takes it all on and absorbs it, in His Self-offering. He walks through it even unto death and downwards into our hell, forgives it and overcomes it in His new life, emerging from our hell and our tomb in His glorious resurrection.
In the com-passionate (co-suffering) cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has suffered with the victimized in this world, and allowed Himself to be crucified in the midst of two criminals, one can discern light, both for the victims and the criminals. Let me choose communion with Him today, in some heartfelt prayer, and participate in His kind of humanity, the divinized kind that self-offers in the midst of criminals. Remember us all, Lord, the criminals and the victims, when You come into Your kingdom!
