Behold the Cross of the Lord

..flee, bands of enemies. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Son of David, has conquered.

I suppose one could ponder the mysteries of the triumph of the Cross till doomsday - at which point one may finally have the answers. I love this feast, and only noticed today that the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is the next day. Franciscans, of course, always think of Jesus' humanity - and of his being part of a family. :)

Previously, I mentioned being engrossed in Benedict XVI's "Eschatology." In quite an interesting treatment of the Litany, he mentions that 'evil' is not merely wickedness, but all that mankind fears (and this with good reason - certainly, if there ever were popes who doubted all of the misfortune in this world, let alone all the evil, it would not have been the past two.) Pestilence, famine, war - well, you all know the words.

Though I have not seen the film, nor do I intend to do so, I noticed on Yahoo today that yet another exorcism film is making box office records. What is the reason that so many are fascinated by exorcism? I do applaud William Peter Blatty's novel (of 30 years ago), but his book had theological depth. It explored faith, despair, and various other important points. It is quite different in some other treatments. People who may believe in nothing much seem very fascinated by the thought of demonic possession.

Myself? I am deathly afraid of the Evil One - and all the more ashamed to admit this. The last thing about which I care to think is demons. I remember a dear friend of mine, Tom, who was a Franciscan friar. He often read of exorcisms, and would become absorbed in Malachi Martin's book on that topic. Tom scoffed at my fear, reminding me that the power of Christ would protect us. Nonetheless, when an excited woman from the church brought in her nephew, who she thought was possessed (he was not - he had Tourette's Syndrome) and asked Tom to exorcise the demon, Tom moved the vestment rack to bar the door of the sacristy where he was seated a moment earlier.

I do not wish to give the Evil One too much credit. As mankind has proven since Cain and Abel were young, we are perfectly capable of every sort of violence on our own. I read an interesting passage recently regarding the Black Death, and the latter part was quite telling. The author said that the Plague was terrifying for how it could wipe out entire populations so quickly... where, in the twentieth century, mankind had the technology to do that for himself.

Most of our sins are from weakness and self-deception - indeed, needing divine grace to be overcome, but not true evil. Evil always involves deceit, violence, a thirst for power. It not only means a turning from the divine ways, but a hardening of basic human inclinations. It means reaching a point of having no conscience.

I suppose because my own life is centred on liturgical prayer, for some reason I am thinking of the Cross tonight in the context of public worship. Baptism - Eucharist - blessing of the dead - absolution, and so forth all bring in the Sign of the Cross. Interesting how, in our worship, the great High Priest's glory and suffering (the former my preference - I love the gospel of John) are constantly there. 'Take this cup away from me - this is my blood of the new testament.'

This is probably my worst post to date - mea culpa. Christus vincit - Christus regnat. More soon - pray for me. :)