Pope Francis: The Cross is not an ornament but the mystery of God’s love
(Vatican Radio) The relationship between Christianity and the Cross and our own sins
was the focus of Pope Francis’s reflections at his Mass on Tuesday in the Santa Marta
residence.
Listen to this report by Susy Hodges:
In his homily,
the Pope said Christianity does not exist without the Cross and stressed that we are
unable to free ourselves from our sins on our own. The Cross, he said, is not an
ornament to place on the altar but is the mystery of God’s love who takes our sins
upon himself. He then reflected on the meaning of Jesus’s warning to the Pharisees
“You will die in your sin.”
“It is impossible for us to free ourselves
from sin on our own. It’s impossible. These doctors of the law, these people who
taught the law, didn’t have a clear idea on this. They believed, yes, in the forgiveness
of God but considered themselves strong, self-sufficient and that they knew everything.
And in the end they transformed religion, their adoration of God, into a culture with
values, reflections, certain commandments of conduct to be polite and they believed,
yes, that the Lord can pardon them, they knew this but they were far removed from
all this.”
Pope Francis said the serpent is the symbol of sin as seen
in the bible. In the desert sin was lifted up but it is a sin that seeks salvation
so that it heals. It is Jesus, the Son of Man, the true savior, who is lifted up.
“Christianity is not a philosophical doctrine, it’s not a programme for
life survival or education, or for peacemaking. These are consequences. Christianity
is a person, a person raised on the Cross, a person who annihilated himself to save
us, who became sin. Just as sin was raised up in the desert, here God who was made
man and made sin for us was raised up. All our sins were there. You cannot understand
Christianity without understanding this profound humiliation of the Son of God who
humbled himself and became a servant unto death, even death on a cross, in order to
serve us.”
This is why, the Pope went on, the apostle Paul said we do not
have other things to boast about, apart from our sins, and this is our misery. But
through the mercy of God, we rejoice in the crucified Christ. It’s for this reason
that ‘there is no Christianity without the Cross and there’s no Cross without Jesus
Christ.
“The Cross is not an ornament that we must always put in the
churches, there on the altar. It is not a symbol that distinguishes us from others.
The Cross is mystery, the mystery of God who humbles himself, he becomes ‘nothing.’
He becomes sin. Where is your sin? ‘I don’t know, I have so many here.’ No, your
sin is there, in the Cross. Go and find it there, in the wounds of the Lord and your
sins will be healed, your wounds will be healed, your sins will be forgiven. The
forgiveness that God gives us is not the same as cancelling a debt that we have with
Him, the forgiveness that God gives us are the wounds of his Son on the Cross, raised
up on the Cross. May he draw us towards Him and may we allow ourselves to be healed
by him.”