THE cross is the most popular sacramental among Christians. But not before the reign of Constantine I, or Saint Constantine, the first Roman emperor who was converted to Christianity.
The cross is a symbol of lowly death, abject torture and despicable suffering. To die by crucifixion is a capital punishment for criminals, slaves, religious and political agitators. It is the most cruel manner of death for people without civil liberties during the time of Christ. And to carry the cross on which a person will be crucified is the most demeaning public display of ridicule for criminal execution.
Cicero, statesman and philosopher in 1 B.C., said crucifixion is “the most horrible death possible,” and Roman historian Tacitus, who lived in 55 to 120 A.D., considers it “the most shameful death…. So shameful a penalty it is that it “could not be inflicted on Roman citizens.”
This extremely negative association made Christians before the reign of Emperor Constantine “extremely reticent about portraying the cross, because too openly a display of it might expose them to ridicule or danger,” Fr. Nil Guillemette, SJ, in the article “Triumph of the Cross.”
Jesus’ cross
AFTER the burial of Jesus, Catholic historians say His cross was thrown in a ditch and covered with earth and stones so that Christians would not to find it.
Part of the wooden cross was discovered by Helena in 26 A.D., according to Church traditions.
It was Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor, who changed the concept of the cross from damnation to salvation.
He was not yet a Christian when he prayed to the God of Christians to help him fight Maxentius for the throne of the Roman Empire.
Lactantius in De Mortibus Persecutorum notes that before the battle with Maxentius, Constantine dream about the “mark of a slanted X, a heavenly sign of God on the shields of his soldiers,” according to Wikipedia.
But Eusebius in Vita Constanti, Wikipedia says that Constantine “saw in the heavens a trophy of the cross arising from the sun with the message In Hoc Signo Vinces [With this sign, you will conquer]. The sign was X [chi] traversed by, a symbol representing the first two letters of the word Christos [Christ].”
Constantine had the mark placed in the uniform of the soldiers and was victorious in a series of civil wars against emperors Maxentius and Licinus.
He converted to Christianity. As the first Christian emperor of Rome, he played an influential role in the Edict of Milan, which decreed tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. He ordered the construction of the church of Holy Sepulchre on the site of Jesus’ tomb in Jerusalem.
The Basilica of Mount Calvary and Holy Sepulchre was finished on September 13, 335, and the next day, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was celebrated.
The cross, as a symbol of Christian faith, was emphasized and given its full meaning.
The relic of the cross of Jesus signifies the history of Christian faith proclaimed when the faithful say: “We adore you, O Lord, and we praise You. By Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.”
When Chosroes II, King of Persia (Iran), invaded Syria and Palestine in 614, the cross was among the Christian treasures that he took.
But Emperor Heraclius of Constantinople recovered the cross when he invaded Persia in 629. He brought the relics back to Jerusalem.
At the city gate, he removed his kingly robes, wore a sack cloth and barefooted carried the cross and restored it in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, narrates Rev. Hugo Hoever, SO Cist., in Lives of the Saints.
Carry your cross
JESUS, preaching on sufferings, said: “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must forget himself, take up his cross every day and follow Me,” as said in Luke 9:23.
A cross is equated to sufferings in body and spirit.
And this brokenness comes in varied forms and intensity—financial ruin, after dreams, terminal illness, hunger, separation, loss of job, death, humiliation, unfulfilled dreams, and even imagined desires and wants. It is any disturbing situation that results in anxieties and depressions.
Each man has a cross or many crosses in life.
God, likewise, never promised to give man a cross that is custom-made—according to his capacity to endure, preference or state of life. Both the good and the bad suffer. Thus, some ask why?
The Old Testament fathers say that all men are sinners, thus, no one is exempt from suffering. Then as the Scripture says, “God chastises those whom He loves” [Proverbs 3:12].
Not all sufferings, though, is a form of chastisement. Almost all sufferings are due to man’s inhumanity to man or self-inflicted because of wrong decisions.
Henri Nouwen, D McNeil and Marrison in Compassion said: “Instead of declaring anything and everything to be the will of God,” man should discern “where in the midst of pains and sufferings…is this loving presence of God.”
For people who pray for courage and strength are never left to bear their crosses alone.
Despite God’s pronouncement that everyone should carry his or her cross every day, suffering creates doubt about a loving and merciful God who can make all things possible. Saint Paul explains to the Romans: “Created by Him, all things exist through Him and for Him.
“How deep are His wisdom and knowledge! Who can explain His decisions? Who can understand His ways? Who knows the mind of the Lord?” [Romans 11: 33-34, 36].
Faith assures Christians that God, who loves man despite His sinfulness, will not give him a cross beyond his capacity to endure.
“Do not be afraid. I have called you by name and you are mine. When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you, your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt you,” according to Isaiah 43:1-2.
Victimhood: Suffering love
MALIGNED, tortured and crucified, Christ is the epitome of a victim soul for love of man. God, the Redeemer, eloquently and dramatically set the example of His chosen followers called victim souls.
With complete faith in God, a victim soul offers generously everything to God for love of Him, and for the salvation of souls.
The life of a victim soul is hidden and mysterious.
All victim souls have only a common virtue—self-effacement, the capacity to love beyond self, beyond pain, beyond suffering.
On victimhood, Fr. Edgardo Arellano, in The Value of Suffering, emphasizes that “candidates to victimhood can be anyone God chooses.
The only prerequisite to be an authentic victim soul is acceptance with good disposition of one’s pains and sufferings for God…. Jesus’ death on the cross is the model of sacrificial suffering. The cross is reproduced again and again in the lives of those who follow Him as victims of love.”
Arellano emphasizes: “The crucial point in Christian life is how to deal with suffering.
“Unfortunately, suffering is the most wasted resource in the world today. We do not realize that, when fully utilized, it can unlock the key to true happiness and peace.”
Do the crosses in life make you a bitter or a better Christian?
Santiago is a former regional director of the Depzartment of Education-National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College, Laguna.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons