Tomorrow we celebrate the great Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. The Cross is both a reminder of the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ and a reminder of the Gospel. St Paul says to Timothy: If I don’t preach the Gospel of Christ, then the Cross loses all its power! The Gospel of Christ demands forgiveness. Christianity is not easy; it demands sacrifice – for example the sacrifice of that justified-grudge that we really enjoy harbouring. But the gospel of Christ always demands forgiveness when we think we are justified in our anger. The gospel of Christ is tough. But by putting our hatred to death, we give life to our love and more importantly, by putting our hatred to death, we give life to His love in us and in each other. We need to offer up our anger to the crucified and risen Jesus. We need to join Him in His redeeming, transforming sacrifice. The fruits of our sacrifices is seen in our ability to live in the true freedom as sons and daughters of the Lord, to live free from our worst enemy, free from that which we do to ourselves, and so become free to truly love and to forgive and be forgiven.
…as we forgive those who trespass against us!
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