May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Thy sight oh Lord our strength and our Redeemer! Amen.
Dear Friends in Christ,
The whole Church in the East and West, regardless of denomination, is today placing the cross before our eyes. The cross which is the instrument of Christ’s saving and meritorious Passion, the throne of his glorification and the altar of his atoning sacrifice. The cross in which the believer receives victory and which passes before us as a banner, showing the way to triumph.
But allow me to present to you today a completely different perspective of what this cross means for us and what other mystery lies behind it.
The cross of Christ is the sign of the fulfillment of time. For there are two pieces of wood. A horizontal piece representing our earthly time, divided into past, present and future, and a vertical piece representing God’s eternal present. Yes, my friends, in the cross of Christ, intangible time has been fulfilled and it represents for us that something has been completely changed, because the tension between the visible and invisible worlds has been reconciled.
Why is the fulfilment of time important? Here on earth we are really only aware of one kind of timeline; the past. We know the past, with all its joys, gratitude and trials. The future exists merely in our imagination and plans, which are both hopeful and a little frightening. And there is this intangible thing we call the present. Inconceivable and incomprehensible, because as soon as I say the word present, it becomes the past, and even before I say the word, I’m not even at the end of the word, the beginning is already in the past at that moment. But in the divine sphere this intangible present is present forever. Hence the possibility of the eternal happiness we hope for can be described in the eternal present. It is not the understanding of the present that gives happiness, but the quality of our future eternal present.
I have explained this so much because it is inherent in today and in Christ’s passion that suffering is not only an earthly reality, but Christ’s descent into hell results in a depth of suffering. The Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar is not afraid to say what others had not dared to say before, that Christ was damned for human. This is necessary in order that the whole created world, all things visible and invisible, may share in redemption. Thus Christ’s descent means that he became part of every possible human situation by experiencing it. But hell cannot reign over him, so he is about to leave it. How could it reign over him, because he is the firstborn among the dead, as Paul refers in the first chapter of the letter tot he Colossians.
Human’s state beyond the earth is determined by his acceptance of Christ in the final moment, by whether he or she says yes to Christ at the judgment. For our life, whether consciously or unconsciously, is always a journey towards God. And at the moment of death we come very close to him, and in death, free from all earthly bondage, the soul can say yes to Christ or reject him in the full freedom of will and mind. After our decision, there are two possibilities.
This is the state of heaven, when the soul is completely one with God. It does not become God but it becomes inseparable from God. For this we are redeemed. This is the mystery of the Cross, the harmony of the united spheres. And the union of the soul with God.
The state of hell is the option two, which we don’t like to talk about and I know it is a hideous subject, is the negative making of the final decision, that is, that God is pushed away from the soul and Christ is seen as constantly moving away. Nothing can stand without the presence of God. So yes, in the eternal present, God is present in hell, but as an entity that is always preparing to leave it because it has no power over Him.
We have in our hands the free will to decide in favour of God, in favour of union with him even at the moment of personal encounter with Christ. That is why our hope and the hope of all people is for salvation, because we know from Scripture and from tradition that the state of hell exists, but we hope that it is empty.
My friends in Christ! Today is the day of the hopefull fulfillment of time. May we make our personal decision for Christ each day so that our salvation may also become a personal experience and awareness. Let us pray for those who have not received the gift of faith, that, if not at any other time, they may say yes to Christ at the latest, and so that the whole created world may be united with God in the eternal present. Cross you are our only hope and fulfillment. Amen.