The Christian's interior life is identified with his relationship with Christ.. Pues bien, esta vida pasa a través de la Iglesia, y viceversa: nuestra relación con la Iglesia pasa necesariamente por nuestra relación personal con Cristo. En este cuerpo de Cristo todos los miembros deben asemejarse a Cristo «hasta que Cristo esté formado en ellos» (Ga 4, 9).
Therefore, says Vatican II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "We are integrated into the mysteries of his life (...), we are united to his sufferings as the body to its head. We suffer with him in order to be glorified with him" (Lumen gentium, 7; CCC 793).
El misterio de la cruz de Cristo y con ello el sentido cristiano del sufrimiento, se iluminan al considerar que es el Espíritu Santo el que nos une en el Cuerpo místico (la Iglesia). Hasta el punto de que cada cristiano debería llegar algún día a decir: "Completo en mi carne lo que falta a los sufrimientos de Cristo, en beneficio de su Cuerpo, que es la Iglesia" (Col 1, 24). Y esto, para acompañar al Señor en su profunda y total solidaridad que le llevó a morir por nosotros, en reparación y expiación por los pecados de todas las personas de todos los tiempos.
Jewess, philosopher, Christian, nun, martyr, mystic and co-patroness of Europe. She considers that man naturally flees from suffering. Whoever finds pleasure in suffering can only do so in an unnatural, unhealthy and destructive way.
And he writes, "Only someone whose spiritual eye is open to the supernatural connections of world events can desire the atonement; but this is only possible with persons in whom the Spirit of Christ lives, who receive his life, power, meaning and direction as members of the head" (E.Stein, Werke, XI, L. Gelber and R. Leuven [eds.], Druten and Freiburg i. Br.-Basel-Vienna 1983).
On the other hand," he adds, "the atonement connects us more intimately with Christ, just as a community is more deeply united when all work together, and as the members of a body are ever more strongly united in their organic interaction. And from this he draws a surprisingly profound conclusion:
On August 9, the feast of saint Edith Steinwhose testimony of conversion from Judaism to Catholicism has touched thousands of faithful.
But since "to be one with Christ is our happiness and to be one with Him is our blessing on earth, love for the cross of Christ is in no way opposed to the joy of our divine sonship" (froher Gotteskindschaft). Helping to carry the cross of Christ gives a strong and pure joy.And those who are allowed and able to do so, the builders of the Kingdom of God, are the most genuine children of God (Ibid.).
Como un resello (refuerzo y confirmación) de que el Opus Dei era verdaderamente de Dios y que nacía en la Iglesia y para el servicio de la Iglesia, san Josemaría experimentó en los primeros años de la Obra dificultades y al mismo tiempo luces y consuelos de Dios.
Years later he wrote: "When the Lord gave me those blows, around the year thirty-one, I did not understand. And suddenly, in the midst of that great bitterness, those words: you are my son (Ps. II, 7), you are Christ. And I only knew how to repeat: Abba, Pater, Abba, Pater, Abba, Abba, Abba, Abba! Now I see it in a new light, like a new discovery: as one sees, as the years go by, the hand of the Lord, of divine Wisdom, of the Almighty. You have made me understand, Lord, that to have the Cross of Christ is to find happiness, joy. And the reason - I see it more clearly than ever - is this: to have the Cross is to identify oneself with Christ, to be Christ, and, therefore, to be a child of God" (Meditation, April 28, 1963, quoted by A. de Fuenmayor, V. Gómez-Iglesias and J. L. Illanes, El itinerario jurídico del Opus Dei. Historia y defensa de un carisma, Pamplona 1989, p. 31).
Jesus suffers for us. He bears all the pains and sins of the world. To overcome the immensity of evil and its consequences, he ascends the cross as a "sacrament" of the passion of love that God experiences for us.
Como fruto de la cruz y de parte del Padre, Jesús nos entrega el Espíritu Santo, que nos une en su Cuerpo místico y nos da la vida que procede del Corazón traspasado. Y nos invita, en efecto, a completar con nuestra vida (la mayor parte de ella son small and ordinary things) what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ in and for this body that we form with Him, the Church.
Therefore, "what heals man is not the avoidance of suffering and flight from pain, but the ability to accept tribulation, to mature in it and to find meaning in it through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love" (Benedict XVI, Encyclical Spe Salvi, 37).
Two years ago, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and in his homily at Santa Marta (14-IX-2018), Francis said that. the cross teaches us this, that in life there is failure and victory.. We must be able to tolerate and patiently endure defeats.
Incluso las que corresponden a nuestros pecados porque Él pagó por nosotros. “Tolerarlas en Él, pedir perdón en Él” pero nunca dejarse seducir por ese perro encadenado que es el demonio. Y nos aconsejaba que en casa, tranquilos, we were to take 5, 10, 15 minutes in front of a crucifixThe small crucifix on the rosary, perhaps: to look at it, because it is certainly a sign of defeat that provokes persecution, but it is also "our sign of victory because God has won there."
In this way we can turn (our) defeats into (God's) victories.
Mr. Ramiro Pellitero Iglesias
Professor of Pastoral Theology, School of Theology, University of Navarra.
Published in Church and new evangelization.
