GAUDIUM IN CRUCE!

MEMORIAL OF ST. TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS

Hk.1:12–2:4, Ps. 9, Mt.17:14–20

Gaudium in Cruce! Joy in the Cross! Yet how can joy and suffering exist together? How can we find goodness in the face of suffering? How can bad things happen to good people? These questions have been troubling not only philosophers and theologians of today but even the prophets of the Old and the disciples of the New Testaments.

In the first reading, we heard of the prophet Habakkuk complaining to God why He will execute His vengeance upon Judah by a people even worse than themselves? “Why then do you gaze on the faithless in silence while the wicked man devours one more just than himself?” And God’s answer was simple. He asked Habakkuk to wait! “If it delays, wait for it. The proud man has no integrity but the just man because of faith shall live.”

In our Gospel, we heard of another complaint. The disciples were asking Jesus why they can’t rebuke the demon who possessed the boy. “Why could we not drive it out?” And Jesus’s answer was simple. “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you.”

Hence from the two readings we realize the importance of faith! Faith enables us to find joy even in the midst of suffering. As the author of the letter to the Hebrews puts it, “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” In Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis gives us a rich imagery of faith as a lamp. He says, “Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey.” Pope Francis has repeatedly quoted Pope Benedict XVI that faith is an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen. Faith in Him who is Crucified and Risen makes us persevere up to the very end.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, whose memorial we celebrate today, once wrote, “We believe that Christ died for us in order to give us life. And so faith in the Crucified—a living faith joined to loving surrender—is for us entrance into life and the beginning of future glory. The cross, therefore, is our only claim to glory” (Science of the Cross 21). Indeed her entire life was a journey of faith: from her falling away from the Jewish faith of her forefathers to her search for truth that ultimately led her back to faith and finally to that encounter with the person of Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen. After years of struggling and resisting God, she found faith as a “loving surrender.”And in this “loving surrender,” she found lasting joy that even the Nazis could not take away. Witnesses reported that while on the way to Auschwitz, this Carmelite nun tried to comfort those around her especially the children. And when she was stripped of everything and herded into the gas chambers, her “living faith joined to loving surrender” shone forth in that terrible darkness and horror.

Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of St. Dominic, who according to Fr. Aureada in his homily during the Solemn Vespers, was a joyful preacher not because he knew about God but because he knew a person, Our Lord.

Tomorrow, we will celebrate another feast, St. Lawrence, the deacon who was known to be joyful despite being grilled to death, even telling his torturers to turn him on the other side since he was already cooked on one side.

These three saints lived in different times and places, yet they teach us one important lesson: Christian joy that constantly abides, no matter what the circumstances comes from this “living faith joined to loving surrender.”

And so we pray, Lord, give us a “living faith joined to loving surrender.” Grant us that faith that enabled Habakkuk to move from complaining to praising you; that faith which can move mountains; that faith which can make us remain joyful amidst the many toils and crosses in life. Amen!