Still the dying before the glory

By this sign you shall conquer. These were the words written in the firmament and the blazing light in the form of a cross. Constantine saw the sign as he rode his stallion to battle against pagan forces of the Roman legions. That was the sign St. Helena his mother saw which enjoined upon her the sacred task of finding the true Cross upon which our Lord died on Calvary. And her son Constantine did conquer the last pagan power of Rome by that sign and became the first Christian emperor of Rome.

Our Filipino tradition celebrates that victory in the fabled Santa Cruz de Mayo with all the majesty and grandeur of a fiesta carnival. Santa Elena is usually the prettiest belle in the community, and Constantino the cutest little boy and the whole procession becomes a fashion show. So much of vanity has developed through the years in the celebration while the true story of St. Helena and her son Constantine of Rome has become remote; more so, the central event that focuses on the Cross of Christ, who, since His ignominious death on the Cross, has mapped out the life that should be that of a Christian, the following of which requires taking up the Cross.

By the sign of the Cross we conquer sin; and by the same Cross we become signs of contradiction. Indeed, it is hard to be an authentic Christian. The more we suffer for Christ’s sake, the more authentic Christians we are. Why, is there no other way whereby we can attain the glory that is heaven?

"You are the Messiah," Peter had identified the Lord. But then he was told that the Messiah was to "suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law . . . he would be killed and after three days rise again." Peter did not want that; he remonstrated. When he identified Jesus as the Messiah he was thinking of a Messiah who was powerful, who could not suffer nor die. And our Lord rebuked him: "Get behind me Satan; your thoughts are not from God but from man." Those were strong words from Jesus . . . meaning He wanted to drive home the fact that the whole of Christianity rests upon the Cross – like a rock – foundation.

We cannot elude the Cross and still be saved. Every good thing we do will always cost us some sacrifice. Chastity requires us to die to our flesh. Integrity and honesty requires us to die to our greed. Charity requires us to die to self. The husband who eyes another woman besides his wife has to die to his urges. The cigarette chain-smoker has to die to his appetite. The drinker has to writhe in pain before he can give up the bottle. And what would it cost us to lower our pride – to be the first to reconcile, to give up pride of place if it would not do us good, to be poor in spirit, to curtail too vain an ambition.

Every good thing we do for heaven will always demand of us sacrifice. This is the inevitableness of the Cross in our Christianity. And every sacrifice is a dying. We must die like Christ to be able to enter into His glory. It is the Cross of Christ which is the sacred sign by which we will conquer all the forces of evil in our lives. That is why Christianity is not an easy road. It is a narrow way because Jesus Himself says: "If you want to follow Me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; and if you lose your life for My sake and for the sake of the Gospel, you will save it." For every dying on the Cross has ahead of it always a glorious Resurrection.