👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾The Holy #Cross: The Disciples and Your #Mother (#John 19:26–27)
(Part 12)
The Cross: The Throne of Divine Love
Saint Paul called the love of the Cross “truth,” Under this heavenly truth different from the fleeting truth of the world our Lady stood with St. John at Calvary. Centuries later, St. Eleni, moved by that same love, journeyed from Rome to Jerusalem to find the precious Cross. Many saints carried Calvary within their hearts. Likewise, faithful Ethiopians, enduring great hardship, traveled to Calvary in spirit and fulfilled their vows out of love for the Cross.
Even those who could not go in person journeyed there through faith. In their prayer and devotion, they stood beside the Virgin and St. John, beholding in spirit the crucified Lord and hearing His tender words: “Behold, your Son your help and your comfort.”
The Mother and the Disciple: A New Household Born at Calvary
When Jesus said to His Mother, “Woman, behold your son,” and to John, “Behold your mother,” He did more than bind two sorrowing hearts together. He inaugurated a new kinship the family of faith gathered at the foot of the Cross.
Mary became mother not to John alone, but to all disciples who would stand by Christ in faith and sorrow. Her motherhood extends to all who receive her Son’s love, all who remain near the Cross when others flee. Thus, when John took her “to his own home,” he carried within that home the heart of the Church itself. The word “your mother” was spoken not to a single disciple but to every soul redeemed by the Crucified.
Even now, two thousand years hence, all who believe and travel in spirit to Calvary find themselves beneath that same Cross. In tears and prayer, they stand beside the Virgin and John, and they too hear the words: “Behold your mother.” For Christ gave her to us that we might not walk alone, but be comforted by her intercession, her steadfast faith, and her maternal love.
The Pilgrimage of the Heart: Traveling to Calvary in Spirit
Not all can walk the stones of Jerusalem or touch the soil of Golgotha, yet the journey to Calvary is not measured by footsteps but by longing. Saint Eleni journeyed from Rome to Jerusalem because her heart was aflame with the love of the Cross, and God granted her to find the very wood on which the Savior hung. The Ethiopians, through hardship and endurance, made that same pilgrimage not for spectacle, but for love.
Those who cannot travel with their bodies may still journey in spirit, as the saints did, embracing the Cross through prayer, contrition, and love. On the feast of the Holy Cross, the faithful are invited to ascend the hill of Calvary with the heart. It is not by hand or foot that we reach it, but by tears and faith. Even distant lands become holy ground when hearts rise to the Cross.
The Cross: The House of Divine Wisdom
The Cross is not only the throne of love but the house of wisdom. Solomon, the ancient king, spoke in figures when he said: “Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars; she has prepared her table.” (Proverbs 9:1–2) The fullness of that wisdom was revealed upon the Cross, where the Bread of Life was broken for the salvation of the world.
The true table prepared by Wisdom was the altar of the Cross, upon which Christ, the Lamb without blemish, offered Himself. There the eternal mystery was unveiled: the crucified One is the wisdom of God, despised by the proud but adored by the humble. Thus Saint Paul declared, “The Jews ask for a sign, and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.” (1 Corinthians 1:22–23)
The wisdom of the Cross calls all who would live not to worldly cleverness but to divine understanding to leave ignorance and walk in the light of sacrificial love.
Continues 👇🏾