To Know the Cross

Bread and Wine Reading: "To Know the Cross", Thomas Merton

Scripture Reading: Romans 5: 1-5
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Thomas Merton begins this reading by telling us that “the Christian must not only accept suffering: he must make it holy.” That is probably strange to most of us. Suffering is bad; suffering is unwanted; suffering is something that we all try to avoid. How, then, can suffering be holy?

Suffering happens. I don’t think it’s helpful to dismiss it as the “will of God”, as if God is somehow sitting off somewhere calculating who to inflict next. God is not like that. We all have needs. We will all suffer. And where is God? There…the place God is…is in the midst of all of the suffering. God walks with us through it, loving us and holding us, and gives us a glimpse of what is to come. God, remember, was there, even on the cross. If nothing else, the suffering in the world reveals the heart of God, reveals all this is holy.

Paul said it better: suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope…God’s love poured into our hearts. He was right. It is a celebration. Because, you see, when we suffer, when we hurt, when the comforts of our lives are even momentarily stripped away, we are capable of seeing hope. We are capable of imagining something new. Suffering changes our perspectives and reframes what comes next in our lives. It once again reminds us what God has done and what God will do. And it gives us the ability, finally, to see things differently.

Joan Chittister says that “I have discovered over time that the cross is supposed to take its toll on us. It forms us to find God in the shadows of life. Ironically enough, it is the cross that teaches us hope…It is this hope that carries us from stage to stage in life, singing and dancing around dark corners.”
God is continually giving newness. God is continually reframing every frame of our life until all of Creation has been brought about right. God is continually giving us the opportunity to glimpse what lies ahead, to see beauty even before it exists. Even in this season of Lent, when we are surrounded by reminders of suffering, we are given holy glimpses of what is ahead. If you count the 40 days of Lent, they do not include Sundays. The Sundays of Lent are known as “little Easters”, opportunities to glimpse and celebrate the Resurrection even in the midst of the darkness. That is the cause for celebration about which Paul wrote.

Discussion Questions:
1.) What, for you, makes suffering “holy”?
2.) In what ways do you see that suffering changes our perspectives?
3.) What hope do you see in suffering?

So go forth, singing and dancing around dark corners for you are indeed on holy ground!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli