The cross, does it kill or liberates

1. 5.The cross, Kills or
releases?
How could you have taken a very serious mismatch between what Christianity is and what it
seems? Perhaps because the world does not understand the Cross. The cross is not denial, but
way to achieve life, liberty, peace, friendship ... and any positive reality. No cross, no human has a
future. No cross, we destroy ourselves, between ourselves and the cosmos.
Yes, because "the world lives by the sacrifice" as any family or friends, who only lives and
everyone will be comfortable only if someone is sacrificed. The cross is the sign of the great
statement, the grain gives life dying. Why look at death, instead of focusing on what is important is
the greatness to be generating a new and higher life?

2. 2

3. 1.5 WE WANT TO LIVE! WE WANT FREEDOM!
We want great things!
It is not true that young people think about everything in the consumption and pleasure. It is true that is materialistic and selfish.
The opposite is true: young people want great things. They want to stop injustice. They want to overcome the inequalities and
involve everyone in the goods of the earth. They want the freedom to obtain oppressed. They
want big things. They want good things.
For this reason, you are so young-you-are again fully open to Christ. Christ has promised us a comfortable life. Who seeks comfort
with it is the wrong way. He shows us the path that leads to great things, to good, to an authentic human life. When he speaks of
the cross we must bear is not the taste of torment or a petty moralism. Is the impulse of love, beginning with himself, but not self-
seeking, it drives a person in the service of truth, justice and goodness.
Christ shows us God and, thus, the true greatness of man.
34.1 pray with B16
1.5.a
A basic paradox
"How do you choose life?" On reflection, I have come to mind that the great defection of Christianity in the West occurred in the last
hundred years was precisely in the name of choice for life. I think it was said Nietzsche, but also in many others, that Christianity is
a choice against life. It was said that with the cross, with all the Commandments, with all the "no" that he proposes, we close the
door of life, but we want to have the life we choose, we choose, ultimately, by freeing ourselves from life the cross, liberating us
from all these Commandments and all these "no." We have life in abundance, nothing more than life.
Here comes immediately to mind the words of the Gospel for today: "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for my sake will save it" (Lk 9, 24). This is the paradox that we must consider first and foremost in the choice for life. It is
spewing life for us as we find life, but giving it, not having it or taking it, but giving it. This is the ultimate meaning of the cross, not to
take for themselves, but giving life.
March 2, 2006
1.5.b
The cross is a symbol of life
There was a period, which has not yet been fully overcome, in which Christianity was rejected precisely because of
the cross. The cross speaks of sacrifice, it was said, the cross is a sign of denial of life. Instead, we want the whole
life, without any restrictions or waivers. We want to live, just live. We will not be limited by commands and prohibitions,
we want wealth and fulfillment, so they said and still said.
All this seems convincing and attractive, is the language of the serpent, who tells us: "Be not afraid! Eat quietly all the
trees of the garden! ". But Palm Sunday tells us that the real big "yes" is precisely the cross, that cross is precisely the
true tree of life. We did not find the proper life of her, but donating. Love is giving himself, and so is the way to true life,
symbolized by the cross.
WYD. Rome, Sunday, April 9, 2006.
1.5.c
2.5 The wise logic of the cross
This is the demanding way of the Cross that Jesus points out to all his disciples. On several occasions he said, "If anyone wants to
serve me, let him follow me". There is no alternative for the Christian who wishes to fulfil his vocation. It is the "law" of the Cross,
described with the image of the grain of wheat that dies in order that new life may germinate; it is the "logic" of the Cross, recalled
also in today's Gospel: "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life". "To hate"
one's life is a strong and paradoxical Semitic expression that clearly emphasizes the radical totality which must distinguish those
who follow Christ and, out of love for him, put themselves at the service of their brethren. They lose their life and thus find it. There
is no other way to experience the joy and the true fruitfulness of Love: the way of giving oneself, of self-giving, of losing oneself in
order to find oneself.
Parish of the Holy Face of Jesus in the Magliana. Sunday, March 29, 2009.
2.5.b
The logic of the cross, the only way
This is the demanding way of the cross that Jesus tells all his disciples. On several occasions he said: "If anyone wants to serve
me, follow me." There is no alternative to the Christian who wants to fulfill his vocation. Is the "law" of the cross described with the
image of the grain of wheat that dies to germinate into a new life, is the "logic" of the cross from which speaks to us today's Gospel:
"He who loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life "(Jn 12, 25). "Hate" life itself is a
strong Semitic expression is a paradox, highlights well the whole radical that should characterize those who follow Christ and His
love is at the service of the brothers dies and thus the found. There is no other way to experience the joy and the true fertility of
Love: The Way of giving, surrender, lost to found.
Parish of the Holy Face of Jesus in the Magliana. Sunday, March 29, 2009.
2.5.b
3.5 THE CROSS SAYS MANY TRUTHS
3

4. The Cross - the giving of himself on the part of the Son of God - is the definitive
"sign" par excellence given to us so that we might understand the truth about man and the truth about God: we have all been
created and redeemed by a God who sacrificed his only Son out of love.
This is why the Crucifixion, as I wrote in the Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, "is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in
which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form" (n. 12).
Parish of God the Merciful Father. March 26, 2006
3.5.a
The cross is a revelation. But does not reveal anything, but God and man. It tells us how God is and what is man. In
Greek philosophy foreshadows this in a way peculiar to the Platonic image of the just crucified. In his work on Plato
asked the State how they could achieve in this world a man fully and completely fair. He concludes that the justice of a
man is only perfect when he gives the impression that it is unjust to himself, because then it makes it clear that follows
the opinion of men, but that does justice for her sake. Thus, for Plato, misunderstood and persecuted is the real right
in this world. And do not hesitate to write: "You say, then, that in these circumstances will be tortured, flogged,
chained, and then crucify him ..." This text, written four hundred years before Christ, all Christians impressed.
Philosophical thought, with all its seriousness, has shown that just in the full sense of the word, must be crucified.
Here is a glimpse of what the cross is revealed about the man.
Introduction to Christianity, pp. 244-245
3.5.b
But the cross does not just say who the man but who God is. God is such that this gap has been identified with men and judges to
save him. In the abyss of human rejection manifests itself even more endless abyss of divine love. The cross is, therefore, the true
center of revelation, a revelation that tells us nothing unknown, but we reveal who we really are to ourselves before God and put
God in our midst.
Introduction to Christianity, pp. 244-245
3.5.c
4.5 What does it mean the Cross of the Lord?
But what does it mean the Lord's cross then? It is the form taken by that love which man has completely accepted, even in his guilt
and, therefore, even in death, to which it has fallen. It came to be sacrifice in boundless love that load shoulder with men, as the
lost sheep, and leads him back to the Father, through the night of sin. From that moment there is a new kind of suffering is not a
curse, but as love transforms the world.
The Christian God, pp. 55-56
4.5.a
The cross opens the door from one side…
In the old liturgy for Palm Sunday, the priest, arriving in front of the church, would knock loudly with the shaft of the processional
cross on the door that was still closed; thereupon, it would be opened. This was a beautiful image of the mystery of Jesus Christ
himself who, with the wood of his Cross, with the power of his love that is given, knocked from the side of the world at God's door;
on the side of a world that was not able to find access to God.
WYD, Saint Peter´s Square, Sunday, April 1,1 abril 2007.
4.5.b
Yet the man Jesus who was a true man with the same sentiments as ours felt the burden of the trial and bitter sorrow at the tragic
end that awaited him. Precisely since he was God-Man he felt terror even more acutely as he faced the abyss of human sin and all
that is unclean in humanity which he had to carry with him and consume in the fire of his love. He had to carry all this with him and
transform it in his love. "Now is my soul troubled", he confessed. "And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?" (Jn 12:
27). The temptation to ask: "Save me, do not permit the Cross, give me life!" surfaces. In the distress of his invocation we may
grasp in anticipation the anguished prayer of Gethsemane, when, experiencing the drama of loneliness and fear, he implored the
Father to take from him the cup of the Passion.
Parish of the Holy Face of Jesus in the Magliana. Sunday, March 29, 2009.
4.5.c
…and from another
With his Cross, Jesus opened God's door, the door between God and men. Now it is open. But the Lord also knocks with his Cross
from the other side: he knocks at the door of the world, at the doors of our hearts, so many of which are so frequently closed to
God. And he says to us something like this: if the proof that God gives you of his existence in creation does not succeed in
opening you to him, if the words of Scripture and the Church's message leave you indifferent, then look at me - the God who let
himself suffer for you, who personally suffers with you - and open yourself to me, your Lord and your God.
It is this appeal that we allow to penetrate our hearts at this moment. May the Lord help us to open the door of our hearts, the door
of the world, so that he, the living God, may arrive in his Son in our time, and reach our life. Amen.
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5. WYD, Saint Peter´s Square, Sunday, April 1, 2007.
4.5.d
The cross is a bridge
There is a bridge between heaven and earth. This bridge is the cross, the love of the Lord has built. The construction of this bridge
goes beyond the possibilities of the technique, the Babylonian had and will have to sink. Only the incarnate love of God could
raise that bridge. Where the sky opens and the angels of God going up and down (Jn. 1, 51), the men begin to understand.
The Easter Road, p. 152
4.5.e
A strange way to 'rise' of all reality
In this light, we also understand the solemn proclamation with which the Gospel passage ends: "and I, when I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men to myself" (Jn 12: 32), and likewise the Evangelist's comment: "He said this to show by what death he was
to die" (Jn 12: 33). The Cross: the height loftiness of love is the loftiness of Jesus and he attracts all to these heights.
Parish of the Holy Face of Jesus in the Magliana. Sunday, March 29, 2009.
4.5.f
He descends to this bridge, reaching us, and we can climb up on this bridge of peace to reach him. On this bridge, always together
with him, we too must reach our neighbour, reach the one who needs us. It is in lowering ourselves, together with Christ, that we
rise up to him and up to God. God is Love, and so the descent, the lowering that love demands of us, is at the same time the true
ascent. Exactly in this way, lowering ourselves, coming out of ourselves, we reach the dignity of Jesus Christ, the human being's
true dignity.
Sunday, May 15, 2005.
4.5.g
5.5 No cross, no life, and we make nothing big
The fundamental law: no cross, no life
When we touch the Cross, or rather, when we carry it, we touch the mystery of God, the mystery of Jesus Christ. The mystery that
God so loved the world – us – that he gave his only-begotten Son for us (cf. Jn 3:16). We touch the marvellous mystery of God’s
love, the only genuinely redemptive truth. But we also touch the fundamental law, the constitutive norm of our lives, namely the fact
that without this “yes” to the Cross, without walking in communion with Christ day by day, life cannot succeed. The more we can
make some sacrifice, out of love for the great truth and the great love, out of love for the truth and for God’s love, the greater and
richer life becomes. Anyone who wants to keep his life for himself loses it. Anyone who gives his life – day by day in small acts,
which form part of the great decision – that person finds it. This is the challenging, but also profoundly beautiful and liberating truth
that we wish to enter into, step by step, as the Cross makes its journey across the continents. May the Lord bless this journey.
WYD, Saint Peter´s Square, Sunday, April 5, 2009.
5.5.a
Ocean of evil against ocean of goodness
Why was it necessary to suffer to save the world? It was necessary because there exists in the world an ocean of evil, of injustice,
hatred, and violence, and the many victims of hatred and injustice have the right to see justice done. God cannot ignore the cries of
the suffering who are oppressed by injustice. To forgive is not to ignore, but to transform. God must enter into this world in order to
set against the ocean of injustice a larger ocean of goodness and of love. And this is the event of the Cross: from that moment,
against the ocean of evil, there exists a river that is boundless, and so ever mightier than all the injustices of the world, a river of
goodness, truth, and love. Thus God forgives, coming into the world and transforming it so that there may be a real strength, a river
of goodness wider than all the evil that could ever exist.
So our address to God becomes an address to ourselves: God invites us to join with him, to leave behind the ocean of evil, of
hatred, violence, and selfishness and to make ourselves known, to enter into the river of his love.
Aosta. July 24, 20 09
5.5.b
You know from bitter experience that, in comparison with the sudden, destructive fury of evil, the work of rebuilding is painfully slow
and arduous. Living by the truth takes time, effort and perseverance: it has to begin in our own hearts, in the small daily sacrifices
required if we are to be faithful to God’s law, in the little acts by which we demonstrate that we love our neighbours, all our
neighbours, regardless of race, ethnicity or language, and by our readiness to work with them to build together on foundations that
will endure. Let your parishes become communities where the light of God’s truth and the power of Christ’s reconciling love are not
only celebrated, but proclaimed in concrete works of charity.
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6. Cimangola, Luanda. Sunday March 22, 2009.
5.5.c
We do welcome brothers
Let us turn our gaze to Christ today, often distracted by superficial and ephemeral earthly interests. Let us pause to
contemplate his cross. The cross is the source of immortal life, is a school of justice and peace, is the universal
patrimony of pardon and mercy, is proof of a permanent and infinite self-giving love that brought God to become man,
vulnerable like us, to die on the cross.
Her arms stuck open for every human being and invite us to approach him with the assurance that we will welcome
and closer in an embrace of infinite tenderness: "When up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (Jn 12, 32).
Through the sorrowful way of the cross, men of all ages, reconciled and redeemed by the blood of Christ, have
become friends of God, Heavenly Father's children. "Friend", and called Jesus to Judas and directs you the latest and
dramatic call to conversion.
"Friend”, He calls each one of us, because He is true friend of all. Unfortunately, men do not always manage to
perceive the depth of this infinite love God has for His creatures. For him there is no difference of race and culture.
Jesus Christ died to free mankind from ignorance of God, the circle of hatred and revenge, from the bondage of sin.
The cross makes us brothers.
Colosseum in Rome. Friday, April 6, 2007
5.5.d
6.5 IS GOD CRUEL BY ALLOWING THE CROSS?
Because of a misunderstood theology, many have received [...] the image of a cruel God who calls the blood of his Son. [...]
However, it is just the opposite: the biblical God does not want human victims. Where it is presented in religious history, stop
human sacrifices. Before Abraham Isaac put his hand on, it prevents the divine mandate: the ram replaced the child. Thus begins
the worship of Yahweh: the sacrifice of the firstborn who asks the ancestral religion of Abraham is relieved by obedience, by faith,
the external substitute, the ram is only an expression of this process more deeply, it is not replaced but access to the essential. For
the God of Israel, human sacrifice is an abomination: Moloch, the god of human sacrifice, is the quintessence of the false god,
which opposes Yahwist faith. Divine service to the God of Israel, not the man's death, but his life. Irenaeus of Lyon coined for this
idea the beautiful formula, 'Gloria Dei vivens homo' living man is the glory of God.
The Christian God, p. 55
6.5.a
St Gregory of Nazianzus once asked himself why God wanted to become a man. The most important and for me the most moving
part of his answer is: "God wanted to realize what obedience means to us and he wanted to measure everything on the basis of his
own suffering, on the invention of his love for us. In this way, he himself can directly know what it is that we feel - what is asked of
us, what indulgence we deserve - calculating our weakness on the basis of his suffering" (Orationes30; Theological Talk IV, 6).
At times we would like to say to Jesus: Lord, your yoke is far from light. Indeed, it is tremendously heavy in this world. But then
looking at the One who bore everything - who tried out on himself obedience, weakness, suffering, all the darkness -, then these
complaints of ours fade. His yoke is that of loving with him. And the more we love him and with him become loving people, the
lighter becomes his seemingly burdensome yoke.Let us pray to him to help us become with him people who are loving, thereby to
increasingly experience how beautiful it is to take up his yoke.
Vatican Basílica, Holy Thursday, April 5, 2007.
6.5.b
7.5 WHY DO WE CROSS ONESELF?
What do we do when we cross oneself?
The prophet shows us is that this king will be a king of peace: he will cause chariots of war and war horses to vanish, he will break
bows and proclaim peace.
This is brought about in Jesus through the sign of the Cross. The Cross is the broken bow, in a certain way, God's new, true
rainbow which connects the heavens and the earth and bridges the abysses between the continents. The new weapon that Jesus
places in our hands is the Cross - a sign of reconciliation, of forgiveness, a sign of love that is stronger than death.
Every time we make the Sign of the Cross we should remember not to confront injustice with other injustice or violence with other
violence: let us remember that we can only overcome evil with good and never by paying evil back with evil.
WYD, SAINT PETER´S SQUARE, SUNDAY, APRIL 9,JMJ, 2006.
7.5.a
Jonah's death according to rabbinical tradition, was a voluntary death for the salvation of Israel, and for that reason was Jonah "a
just perfect." The sign of true Fair, the perfect right, is the voluntary death for the salvation of others. This sign has given us Jesus.
He is the real fair. Your sign is your death. Its symbol is the cross. This will mark the end of time. And is this a sign the world's
opinion, the trial of our lives. Let our lives right now under this sign, day after day, we accept and recognize the sign of Jonah
making the sign of the cross at the beginning and end of our prayers.
The Easter Road, p. 42
6

7. 7.5.b
The cross around the neck
Many of you wear around your neck a chain with a cross. I too wear one, as indeed all the bishops. Not an ornament or a jewel. It is
the precious symbol of our faith, the visible and material sign that we belong to Christ. St. Paul speaks clearly of the cross at the
beginning of his first letter to the Corinthians. In Corinth, lived a community uproar and revolt, exposed to the dangers of corruption
of the surrounding culture. Hazards similar to those we know today. I will not mention anything more than the following: the quarrels
and fights within the community of believers, the seductiveness of pseudo religious or philosophical wisdom, the superficiality of
faith and a dissolute morality. Saint Paul begins his letter by writing: "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are in
the process of destruction, but for those who are being saved, for us is the power of God" (1 Cor 1.18) . Then the Apostle shows
the opposition between wisdom and folly, in God and as men. Talk about it when he evokes the founding of the Church in Corinth
and purpose of his own preaching. Concludes insisting beauty of wisdom God Christ and after Him, His Apostles teach the world
and Christians. This wisdom, mysterious and hidden (cf. 1 Cor 2.7), has been revealed by the Spirit, because "human level one
does not capture what is proper to the Spirit of God, it sounds crazy, can not perceive it because you can only judge the criteria of
the Spirit "(1 Cor 2.14).
The Spirit opens human intelligence to horizons that surpass it and makes him understand that the only true wisdom is in the
greatness of Christ. For Christians, the Cross signifies God's wisdom and his infinite love revealed in the saving gift of Christ dead
and risen for the life of the world, in particular, for the life of each.
The Spirit of the Liturgy, Christianity Ediciones, Madrid 1978. God and Christianity B16.
7.5.c
This discovery impressive a God became man for love you to respect and venerate the Cruz. Not is only sign your life in God and
your salvation but-lo know-silent witness's sufferings men and while unique expression and precious all hopes.
The Spirit of the Liturgy, Christianity Ediciones, Madrid 1978. God and Christianity B16.
7.5.d
God is a blessing for all creation and all men. The cross, which is his sign in heaven and on earth, had to become, therefore, in the
gesture of blessing itself Christian.
Christianity not moralism. Christianity is the reality of the common history of God and man. In this story that dominates the gift of
God, we learn to act like men.
The Spirit of the Liturgy, Christianity Ediciones, Madrid 1978. God and Christianity B16.
7.5.e
8.5 Ways of our cross
Dear young people, I know that venerating the Cross can sometimes bring mockery and even persecution. Cross-threatening in
some measure of human security, but is also and above all, God's grace and confirms our salvation. This evening, I entrust to the
Cross of Christ. The Holy Spirit will understand its mysteries of love and you will exclaim with Saint Paul: "God forbid that I should
glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal 6.14). Paul
had understood the words of Jesus seemingly paradoxical that it is only by giving ("losing") that one finds life (cf. Mk 8:35, Jn
12.24) and it had drawn the conclusion that Cross expresses the fundamental law of love, the perfect formula for real life. That
some deepening the mystery of the Cross you discover the call to serve Christ unreservedly in the priesthood or religious life.
Notre-dame Cathedral Paris, Friday, September 12, 2008
8.5 A
To follow him
We see that the entire fabric of the message of Jesus is full of tensions, which is a major challenge. There always has to do with
the cross. Who does not want to be left to burn, who is not willing, nor come near Him But we must know precisely where he will
find true goodness, that helps us, and we agree that in addition to harbor good intentions toward us, makes us do well.
God and the world, p. 21
8.5 B
To respond to evil
Following the divine Teacher in docility makes Christians witnesses and apostles of peace. We might say that this inner attitude
also helps us to highlight more clearly what response Christians should give to the violence that is threatening peace in the world.
It should certainly not be revenge, nor hatred nor even flight into a false spiritualism. The response of those who follow Christ is
rather to take the path chosen by the One who, in the face of the evils of his time and of all times, embraced the Cross with
determination, following the longer but more effective path of love.
Following in his footsteps and united to him, we must all strive to oppose evil with good, falsehood with truth and hatred with love.
7

8. Basílica de Santa Sabina. Miércoles 1 marzo 2006.
8.5.c
To persevere in adversity
Dear friends, what it mean to build on the rock? Building on the rock means being aware that there will be setbacks. Christ says:
"The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew, and rammed the house ..." (Mt 7, 25). These natural phenomena are not only the
image of the many contradictions of the human condition are also usually predictable. Christ does not promise that building a house
in a downpour will not fall ever, not promises a violent wave not break down what is most dear to us, does not promise that strong
winds are not what we have built drag sometimes at the cost of enormous sacrifices. Christ not only understands the aspiration of
man to a permanent home, but is also fully aware of everything that can ruin the happiness of man. Therefore, you should not
surprise you that contradictions arise, whatever. Do not be discouraged because of them. A building constructed on the rock was
not exempted from the action of the forces of nature, inscribed in the mystery of man. Have built on rock means being certain that
in difficult times there is a positive force in which you can trust.
Krakow-Błonia, Saturday May 27, 2006
8.5.d
And do not be afraid! Even if it means being a “sign of contradiction” (Lk 2:34) in the face of hardened attitudes and a mentality that
sees others as a means to be used, rather than as brothers and sisters to be loved, cherished and helped along the path of
freedom, life and hope.
Cimangola, Luanda. Domingo 22 marzo 2009.
8.5.e
To be in his hands
[...] [...] The cross demands that Jesus put in the hands of my own self, not to destroy it, but that it becomes free and open. The
other in Jesus Christ that I convey his if he really is totally mine. So this approach requires much patience and humility, as the Lord
is patient with us: not a somersault in the heroism that makes holy man, but the humble and patient journey with Jesus, step by
step. Holiness does not consist in risky acts of virtue, but in love with him. So true saints are men fully human and natural, the
human beings who, through the transformation and purification of Easter, comes the light in all its original beauty.
Look to Christ, p. 107
8.5.f
To accept the truth
"Becoming" means: to accept the suffering of the truth. The conversion requires the truth, faith and love will become more
important than our biological life, the welfare, success, prestige and tranquility of our existence, this is not just an abstract way, but
in our reality daily and in the smallest things. In fact, the success, prestige, tranquility and comfort are the false gods that more truth
and prevent true progress in personal and social life. When we accept the primacy of truth, follow the Lord, we carry our cross and
partake in the culture of love, which is the culture of the cross.
The Easter Road, pp. 27-28
8.5.g
To accept the effort
A man who is deprived of all fatigue and transported to the promised land of their dreams lose their authenticity and selfhood. In
fact the man is not saved but through the cross and accepting one's suffering and the suffering of the world, who find their sense of
liberation in the passion of God. Only then will man be free. All other offers at the best prices are bound to fail.
Why am I still a Christian?, P. 109
8.5.h
9.5 The cross is not the last Word
The cross was not a last word of God in Jesus Christ. The tomb is not retained. Resurrected and God speaks to us through the
resurrection. In hell, the rich man begged for Lazarus to his brothers will appear and advise them of his cruel fate: believe, he
thinks, if someone had risen from the dead (Luke 16, 27s). However, Lazarus has come true. Is there and says, this life is not
everything. There is an eternity. [...] The theme of this world has every appearance of an escape from the present. But if this issue
is true, can you overlook?, Can dismiss as consolation?, Is not precisely what gives life seriously, freedom, hope?
The Christian God, p. 54
9.5.A
8