Our Marian Servant Community is reading ST THERESE, A TREASURED LOVE STORY by ArchBp Fulton Sheen, and it’s packed with spiritual gems! Chapter 5, titled “St Therese and the Value of Suffering,” is a chapter we all agree will be one to read and re-read. What has especially spoken to many of us are the final words of the chapter, where ArchBp Sheen speaks of being in a time of silence, and hearing a cry coming down from the cross.
He went in search of the cry, and when he found it, there was a man, being crucified. His heart deeply moved, he sought to help him down, beginning to remove the nails, when he was stopped by the words, “Let them be, for I cannot be taken down until every man, woman and child come to take Me down.” Sheen responded, “What can I do? I cannot bear to hear Your cry!” And the Lord spoke, “go into the world and tell everyone that you meet, there is a Man on the cross.”
I hear the cry from the cross when I read of natural disasters, hurricanes and wildfires that have brought massive loss of life and devastation to so many. I hear the cry from the cross of Christians in countries of oppression where their churches and homes are being burned, and their loved ones killed. I hear the cry from the cross coming from the hearts of those whose same sex attraction has shattered their dreams, and broken the hearts of their parents and loved ones, I hear the cry from the cross when I hear of another life that has been snuffed out by abortion. The cry rises in magnitude, to a crescendo that I cannot block out.
What am I to do with this? My faith is a faith of joy in the Lord; how am I to reconcile that with the call to allow my heart to be broken with all that has broken the heart of Jesus? The only response I can conceive is to do all I can to share the Good News that God has become Man, not only to share in our suffering, but to bring us to true freedom and joy in the hope of eternal life!
Every night in her bedtime prayers, my mother would pray for mercy for man’s inhumanity to man. That prayer has become my own, as I beg God’s mercy on this suffering humanity, that all may come to know the joy that belongs to a life of faith in the Risen Lord Jesus. In the midst of trials and disorders, God’s grace can bestow the strength and inner peace needed to live in this broken world. One by one, to make it a little less broken, to bring healing and compassion to each cry that is heard.
Lord God, may Your words from the Cross come to fruition, that all may come to know You and receive Your mercy. That we may become fully human, and cherish and respect all life that You have created. May I do my part in proclaiming, “there is a Man on the cross!” And He has come to set mankind free to love and serve one another, and to be happy with Him in heaven forever!
Spiritual Sun Pennies 