A cross is a sign.  In itself it can effect nothing.  Its value is in pointing to a reality,  the reality of God becoming one of us in Jesus.  Jesus died 2000 years ago, a  once-for-all historic happening, which cannot be repeated, but the Spirit which  lived in Jesus and raised him from the dead now lives in us.  We look on the cross to remind us of who  we are, of our origins from God  who, ' before the world was, had us in mind', and of our destination, returning to God, not alone, but in Christ , through whom we are in relationship  with every other human being and with all creation.  The vertical part of the cross  represents our relationship with God, whom we can only find through the  horizontal part, representing our relationship with one  another. Salvation is letting the Spirit of Christ be the Spirit  of Christ in us and through us.  We  cannot be saved no matter how often we look at the cross, venerate it, even receive the sacraments, unless we are letting the Spirit of Jesus reign in us  and through us, the Spirit of forgiveness, of non-violent resistence, the Spirit  which enables us to love our enemies and bless those who persecute us.

It is good to gaze at Jesus on the Cross, as though we were there at the moment of his dying, and then to ask ourselves, ' What  response have I made? What response am I now making? How do I want to respond in  the future?'

Extract from "Oh  God, why by Fr Gerard Hughes"  SJ

REMINDER. MONTHLY MASS at the home of Roger and Ann  Stephens 4 Burford Lea

Richard Grey