40 Crosses for 40 Days: 6th Cross - The Our Father Cross
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How devasting today must have been for Jesus' first disciples. To wake up from what must have been troubled, fitful sleep, only to remember the extreme suffering of the dear Lord, and His devasting death. "Certainly," they must have thought, "all is lost. And now, what will happen to us?"
But we, who have the benefit of years of perspective, know that the story does not end on Good Friday. Sin, suffering, death and destruction will not, after all, have the last word. The black cross of Good Friday becomes the white and gold cross of God's glory, stretching out in all directions across all of time and space.
Shortly, this catastrophe will turn into a eucatastrophe, what J.R.R. Tolkien referred to as the sudden, unexpected turn of events that takes place at the end of fairy tales, resulting in a blissfully happy ending. Except that this fairy tale, this story of the God who left the heavens and walked among His people, teaching them, loving them, and ultimately dying for them, is not a fairy tale. It really happened. We will re-live the happy ending tonight at the Easter Vigil, with the lighting of the Pascal fire and the proclaiming of salvation history, ending in the triumph of the cross and the resurrection of the Lord. We will hear the eyewitness account of the empty tomb tomorrow, on Easter Sunday. All is not lost, not by a very long way. In fact, now, all has been given.
Today, we remember that just because we don't see God working, doesn't mean that He is not. Christ is busy, working in a realm we do not see, waking the dead and bringing them new life. With all of creation, we wait and watch in silence. . .
A life-long Catholic, Sarah has worked for the Catholic church for close to 20 years, helping parents, grandparents, godparents and children of all ages learn about and live their Catholic faith. A big believer in integrating reason with imagination, she especially loves using stories, particularly the stories of C.S.Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings, as well as symbols and physical "stuff" to catechize and ponder over.
She earned her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Dallas, then went on to complete a Master's in Language and Literature at St. Mary's University and years later, while living on a farm in rural Indiana with kids, dogs, chickens and ducks, she earned a Master's degree in Theology from Franciscan University of Stuebenville. She is getting close to finishing a doctoral degree in Romantic Theology, and would love for you to follow her writing on Substack, as well as here at Catholic365.
