Meditation 44
The Way of the Cross.
Nothing is as
virtuous in order to mortify the old self of egoism – the old man of
sin and death – as the Way of the Cross. But the cross can be too dark
if we look at it with human eyes. Thus John of the Cross gave us a new
standpoint of view: to look at it with the eyes of God from above. This
he did be the drawing above which has become an inspiration for many
souls. This is indeed the cross John Paul II chose to decorate his
staff as he made his doctorate on the dark night and is a member of the
Third Order of Carmel. It inspired also the painter Salvador Dali in
one of his paintings now world famous. The traditional prayer of the
Western Church is an invaluable help in this mortification of the old
man of sin and death.
Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 10. 38, 39).
The soul is thus obliged to offer itself as a living sacrifice before the holy countenance of God. This she is only able to accomplish in the Holy Spirit in the live of grace. This is to become partaker in the Life of Christ, His live of love, “I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I but Christ living in me” (Gl 2. 20) and St. Paul emphasized that this is the work of God’s sustaining grace, “I am not setting aside God’s grace as of no value” (Gl 2. 21). The Way of the Cross is a secure methodology to mortify the sensuous ego and thus the soul must take this cross willingly on her shoulders if she desires to proceed still further on the Sacred Way.
Such a disposition is a poisoned gift for the ego of the old man of sin and death which will quicken the process of his death struggle, because in this way only the soul will be formatted into her Royal Image in the Sanctuary. While the disposition of the natural senses is dominant it is a hindrance for the soul in order to attain the Vision of the Celestial City within. The mirror of her heart is darkened as the clouds of the senses rest over the heaven of the soul. But when the “Father of the poor come with treasures which will endure” and begins to “Bend the stubborn heart and will; melts the frozen, warms the chill,” the clouds are driven away. And just as a pure pond reflects the sunny and blue heaven, the same takes place here at the in front of the Second entrance.
Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 10. 38, 39).
The soul is thus obliged to offer itself as a living sacrifice before the holy countenance of God. This she is only able to accomplish in the Holy Spirit in the live of grace. This is to become partaker in the Life of Christ, His live of love, “I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I but Christ living in me” (Gl 2. 20) and St. Paul emphasized that this is the work of God’s sustaining grace, “I am not setting aside God’s grace as of no value” (Gl 2. 21). The Way of the Cross is a secure methodology to mortify the sensuous ego and thus the soul must take this cross willingly on her shoulders if she desires to proceed still further on the Sacred Way.
(a) Jesus was condemned to
death. Jesus was unjustly condemned to die for our sake on the cross.
Thus the soul must mortify her sensuous disposition by the help of
Jesus in order to walk the Sacred Way in the light of faith.
(b) Jesus took up His cross willingly. This encourage the soul to take up her own cross in the same spirit of humbleness and love and carry it with Him and thus confess her own guilt before God by not having carried this cross by perseverance.
(c) Jesus fell under the burden of the cross, but He continued on and thus encourages the soul to rise up again when she falls and commits a serious sin by entreating God for His mercy at the laver.
(d) Jesus meets His mother. When the soul begins to be saturated by the love which blazed in their own hearts no human relationship can hold her back in her assimilation with her Royal Image of Glory.
(e) Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene. The Spirit of love is even at work in the darkest miseries and wretchedness of the soul, but God remember her always and sustains her in the live of grace.
(f) Veronica wipes Jesus face with her veil. Veronica recognized immediately the face of God Almighty and when the soul wipes off herself all deceptions at the laver in the illumination of the dark-red sardius – the jewel of His passion – she will see His image clearly reflected in the mirror of her heart as well as in other human beings in the silver of faith. Thus she takes on God’s likeness in the truth of the sardius.
(g) Jesus falls the second time. The perseverance is the core of the prayer in the souls’s warfare in the desert of the courtyard, and Jesus gives it a perfect example of how she shall respond: to take up her cross and continue on the Sacred Way. Thus the angels give her a helping hand (Mt 4. 11), “and angels appeared and looked after him,” in this particular case the choir of the Virtues.
(h) Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem. These women wept when they saw Jesus suffer. But He said to them, “Weep not for me but for yourselves and your children.” This is the call to complete repentance, that the soul changes her heart and returns to God. This too was the prayer of David, “God, create in me a clean heart, renew with me a resolute spirit” (Ps 51. 10).
(i) Jesus falls a third time. In the humanity of the sufferings of the sardius Jesus found strength and courage to continue. He gives the soul this same strength in the illumination of this jewel when she goes through the night of the senses in the illumination of this jewel in the courtyard and in far more sublime way in the night of the spirit in the Holy.
(j) Jesus is stripped of His garments. The soul must be ready to be stripped of all her possessions and expose her nakedness before God. This is the same thing to mortify her sensuous ego. This the Holy spirit will reveal to the soul at the golden altar of incense and only thus can she carry the breastplate of the high priest in the purity of her heart.
(k) Jesus is nailed to the cross. The role of men on earth is to bring reconciliation to all the world by peace and forgiveness. And thus we must cry with Jesus, “Father, forgive them in your mercy, they do not know what they do.” This is a true assimilation to our Royal Image in the live of grace.
(l) Jesus dies on the cross. The soul must die from the last remains of the old man of sin at the altar of incense and commit her spirit into the hands of God in order to be saturated by His immeasurable love.
(m) Jesus is taken down from the cross. Just as those who followed Jesus to the Sacrificial Hill of the Cross had to wait in perseverance and watchfulness, the soul in her awareness must wait in the prayer of union in order to be able to see God’s wonders and deeds in her own sacrificial death, that is, when God enrapture her to the Heavenly Tabernacle on the wings of praise in glory.
(n) Jesus is laid in the tomb. The holy fathers looked upon the tomb as the place of resurrection in the Holy of Holies. It is out of the darkness of death which God brings forth life. This same life and light He brings forth in the soul in the three great purifications of the prayer life: in the night of the senses, spirit and redemption. This is the mystery of the Easter after the three nights in the tomb of death or the three sections of the Tabernacle as the abode of the Holy Spirit and the All-holy Heart of Jesus which was the Spirit's abode in His holy humanity on earth.
(b) Jesus took up His cross willingly. This encourage the soul to take up her own cross in the same spirit of humbleness and love and carry it with Him and thus confess her own guilt before God by not having carried this cross by perseverance.
(c) Jesus fell under the burden of the cross, but He continued on and thus encourages the soul to rise up again when she falls and commits a serious sin by entreating God for His mercy at the laver.
(d) Jesus meets His mother. When the soul begins to be saturated by the love which blazed in their own hearts no human relationship can hold her back in her assimilation with her Royal Image of Glory.
(e) Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene. The Spirit of love is even at work in the darkest miseries and wretchedness of the soul, but God remember her always and sustains her in the live of grace.
(f) Veronica wipes Jesus face with her veil. Veronica recognized immediately the face of God Almighty and when the soul wipes off herself all deceptions at the laver in the illumination of the dark-red sardius – the jewel of His passion – she will see His image clearly reflected in the mirror of her heart as well as in other human beings in the silver of faith. Thus she takes on God’s likeness in the truth of the sardius.
(g) Jesus falls the second time. The perseverance is the core of the prayer in the souls’s warfare in the desert of the courtyard, and Jesus gives it a perfect example of how she shall respond: to take up her cross and continue on the Sacred Way. Thus the angels give her a helping hand (Mt 4. 11), “and angels appeared and looked after him,” in this particular case the choir of the Virtues.
(h) Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem. These women wept when they saw Jesus suffer. But He said to them, “Weep not for me but for yourselves and your children.” This is the call to complete repentance, that the soul changes her heart and returns to God. This too was the prayer of David, “God, create in me a clean heart, renew with me a resolute spirit” (Ps 51. 10).
(i) Jesus falls a third time. In the humanity of the sufferings of the sardius Jesus found strength and courage to continue. He gives the soul this same strength in the illumination of this jewel when she goes through the night of the senses in the illumination of this jewel in the courtyard and in far more sublime way in the night of the spirit in the Holy.
(j) Jesus is stripped of His garments. The soul must be ready to be stripped of all her possessions and expose her nakedness before God. This is the same thing to mortify her sensuous ego. This the Holy spirit will reveal to the soul at the golden altar of incense and only thus can she carry the breastplate of the high priest in the purity of her heart.
(k) Jesus is nailed to the cross. The role of men on earth is to bring reconciliation to all the world by peace and forgiveness. And thus we must cry with Jesus, “Father, forgive them in your mercy, they do not know what they do.” This is a true assimilation to our Royal Image in the live of grace.
(l) Jesus dies on the cross. The soul must die from the last remains of the old man of sin at the altar of incense and commit her spirit into the hands of God in order to be saturated by His immeasurable love.
(m) Jesus is taken down from the cross. Just as those who followed Jesus to the Sacrificial Hill of the Cross had to wait in perseverance and watchfulness, the soul in her awareness must wait in the prayer of union in order to be able to see God’s wonders and deeds in her own sacrificial death, that is, when God enrapture her to the Heavenly Tabernacle on the wings of praise in glory.
(n) Jesus is laid in the tomb. The holy fathers looked upon the tomb as the place of resurrection in the Holy of Holies. It is out of the darkness of death which God brings forth life. This same life and light He brings forth in the soul in the three great purifications of the prayer life: in the night of the senses, spirit and redemption. This is the mystery of the Easter after the three nights in the tomb of death or the three sections of the Tabernacle as the abode of the Holy Spirit and the All-holy Heart of Jesus which was the Spirit's abode in His holy humanity on earth.
Such a disposition is a poisoned gift for the ego of the old man of sin and death which will quicken the process of his death struggle, because in this way only the soul will be formatted into her Royal Image in the Sanctuary. While the disposition of the natural senses is dominant it is a hindrance for the soul in order to attain the Vision of the Celestial City within. The mirror of her heart is darkened as the clouds of the senses rest over the heaven of the soul. But when the “Father of the poor come with treasures which will endure” and begins to “Bend the stubborn heart and will; melts the frozen, warms the chill,” the clouds are driven away. And just as a pure pond reflects the sunny and blue heaven, the same takes place here at the in front of the Second entrance.
