"A God willing to hang out with us"

I don’t know about you, but due to what I consider excessive gore and violence I have stopped watching some contemporary movies – and much less playing some kind of video games.

Now, you may argue, violence always was part of movies.  From slap-stick comedians like Charles Chaplin and The Three Stooges all the way to Quo Vadis, The Lone Ranger and his kin, Edward Scissors-Hands and Manhunt, violence was always there to be watched.

And, although up to-date no one has proved a direct correlation between watching violent video games or movies and violent behavior, no one can deny that screen violence has a direct contribution to human behavior.

The APA notes potential links between violent video games and increased aggressive behavior and reduced empathy, particularly in children.

Psychologists note that exposure to violence can lead to “desensitization,” a diminished emotional response to initially distressing images, which may correlate with increased antisocial behavior and decreased moral engagement.

Researchers also have noted that children may learn and imitate aggressive behaviors observed in media, which can influence their social scripts and behavior over time.

So, under this light, I wonder, what do we do with Calvary’s Cross?  What do we do with Good Friday and today’s Holy Cross Sunday?

Fr. Jude Siciliano in his blogpost “First Impressions” asks, “What is the ‘glory’ of the Cross” after all?

Sadly, Fr. Siciliano writes, “we have become so accustomed to seeing the Cross both inside and outside churches, on rosaries, around people’s necks, even as tattoos or home décor, that we often miss its deeper meaning.  Sometimes the Cross has been reduced to a fashion statement or a good-luck charm.

“Because [the Cross] is so omnipresent, we can lose the sense of shock it originally evoked and the cruelty and pain it represented.

And Fr. Siciliano continues, “The first generation of Christians was not blind to the barbaric reality of crucifixion.  They had seen their messianic hero tortured, bloodied, mercilessly nailed to a crossbar, and lifted up for all to see and mock.  To unbelievers, it was unthinkable that this hated symbol of defeat and death could be cherished as a sign of salvation and a pattern for life.”

Indeed, the cross and the finality of death that it represented lost its sting, as St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, not because the cross did lose its ugliness, violence, and hatred, but for the One who was Crucified, Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Cardinal and Theologian Monsignor Walter Kasper in his book "Seasons of Grace: A Spiritual Companion to the Liturgical Year, (p. 107)” writes that the Cross does not “prettify” [or embellish] the truth about humanity and our sins.  It reveals us as we really are and exposes what we do to one another.  He calls it the “unvarnished truth” a truth that, once faced, yet can set us free.

Yes, as difficult it is to accept it, the “unvarnished truth” is that since Creation, humanity has not changed a lot.  In fact, it could be argued that humanity has found news ways to inflict pain, new ways to promote hatred, and more ways to cause death in a horrible and massive scale.

But here is the Good News.  The Good News is that in Jesus, the Risen Savior, God has no problems in opening his arms in loving welcome – even in account of the Cross.

Indeed, the Good News is that though humanity hanged Jesus on Calvary’s Cross, in his unconditional love God in Jesus Christ has no problems in hanging out with us.

So, our celebration of the Cross is in fact the transformation of a horrible wooden cross into “THE Holy Cross”, a sign of God’s loving grace and mercy.

For as in Calvary’s Cross “we confront the difficult truth about human sin (…) [it] also reveals the even greater truth of God’s mercy: God forgives, reconciles, and saves in love.  Instead of condemning humanity, God offers salvation through the Cross.”

Outlandish, right?  Yes, indeed God’s love is so outlandish that the people of our Lord’s time could not understand how a person who seemed to represent in his life all that was true, pure, and good would be willing to mix up with the wrong crowd – people like us.

In our gospel we read that religious leaders questioned Jesus, “Have you no shame, Jesus?  How could you sit and have lunch with “those” people?”

To which Jesus offered a piercing answer – “In the eyes of my Father, ‘Those people’ are worth more than your most precious piece of property and even more precious than the world’s riches.”

Such is the radical and unexpected scope of divine mercy.  It is a mercy that refuses to be fenced in by social norms, religious boundaries, or the limits of human imagination.

So, Calvary’s Cross stands, not as a monument to defeat, but as a gateway to hope. In this paradox, the symbol of shame becomes the sign of salvation, the place of rejection, the gate of glory.

So today, as we celebrate the Triumph of the Cross and we approach the Lord’s Presence in the Bread and in the Wine, we are invited to relinquish our illusions, to see ourselves honestly, yet never without hope.  Not hope on what we can do or offer in return, but in what God has already done and offered in our behalf.

Then, as we leave this holy place which we call St. David’s Church, let us embrace a new way of being.  A way shaped not by the cycles of guilt and reconciliation, but by the rhythms of forgiveness and transformational love.

And in doing so, you too will be able to glimpse the heart of God.  A Sacred Heart that loves us so much and dares us to love without reservation.

And now, “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”alvary's

Fr. Gustavo