Be Transformed!

I asked the Lord, ?Why, why this cross in our lives?? And He gave me an incredible answer! Like Simon of Cyrene, it is the vocation of every Christian to carry the Cross of Christ. This is why Saint John Marie Vianney said, ?Everything is a reminder of the Cross. We ourselves are made in the shape of the Cross.? There is a great deal to unpack in that seemingly simple but profound teaching. The sufferings we experience allow us to partake in the suffering of Christ. Without the willingness to embrace suffering for the sake of Christ, we cannot fulfill our Christian mission on earth. Christianity is the only religion that recognizes the salvific aspects of suffering and teaches that suffering can help us attain eternal salvation?if we join it to Christ?s own suffering. Venerable Fulton Sheen said that unless there is a cross in our lives, there never will be a resurrection.? Jesus himself tells us what is required to be His disciple, ?If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me? (Matthew 16:24). Again, Jesus says in Matthew 10:38, ?He who does not take his cross and follow Me, is not worthy of Me.? Jesus died on the Cross to save the world. After His death, He ascended into Heaven but left the Cross in the world. He knew that anyone who wants to join Him in Heaven will go there by way of the Cross. Saint John Vianney also reminds us that ?The Cross is the ladder to Heaven.? ?Our willingness to embrace the Cross allows us to climb that heavenly ladder.? There are plenty of ways to destruction, but there is only one way to Heaven?the way of the Cross. Depths of My Heart In 2016, while I was studying for my Masters, my mother began to show signs of weakness. The doctors suggested a biopsy. During Holy Week, we received the report that my mother had cancer. My family was devastated by the news. That evening, I sat in my room and stared at a statue of Jesus carrying His Cross. Slowly, tears flowed from my eyes as I complained to Jesus: for the last two years I almost never missed Holy Mass, I prayed rosaries every day and I gave a lot of time working for the kingdom of God (I was quite active in Jesus Youth at the time). My pious mother was very devoted to Mother Mary. So I asked Jesus from the depths of my heart, ?Why, why this cross in our lives?? That Holy Week, I went through a great agony. As I sat in my room gazing at the statue, a thought entered my mind. Jesus is alone carrying His cross. After a while, I heard a voice in my heart saying, ?Josin can you help Me carry My Cross?? I realized what Jesus was calling me to do and my vocation became clear. I was to help carry the Cross of Jesus, like Simon of Cyrene. Around that time, I made a visit to one of my mentors in Jesus Youth and shared with him the pain I was undergoing since my mother?s cancer diagnosis. After hearing my troubles, he gave me but one piece of advice: ?Josin, in praying for your present situation, you will find one of two answers: either God will heal your mother completely, or else He has no plan to heal this illness but is giving this illness as a cross to bear. But if that is the case, He will also give you and your family the grace and strength to bear it.? I soon came to understand that God was answering my prayers in the second way. But he gave me the grace and strength to carry His cross; and not only for me, but to my whole family. As time passed, I began to realize that this cross of cancer was purifying our family. It increased our faith. It transformed my father into a man of prayer. It helped and guided me to choose the religious life. It helped my sister to grow closer to Jesus. This cross eventually helped my mother to go peacefully to the heavenly Jerusalem. The Letter of James (1:12) says ?Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.? By June of 2018, my mother?s illness had taken a turn for the worse. She was under tremendous pain, but surprisingly, she remained joyful. She said to my father one day, ?Enough of all this treatment. After all, I am going to heaven.? A few days later, she woke from a dream and said to my father ?I saw a dream?. But before she could elaborate, Celine Thomas departed from the world, completing her earthly pilgrimage. Over the course of two years, through 30 chemotherapies and two major surgeries, she carried her cross faithfully without relief from her pain. I am now certain that she is looking upon the glory of Christ, face to face. The Secret Can we imagine our Lord telling us, ?I have many friends at My table, but very few at My Cross?? During Jesus? crucifixion Mary Magdalene stood courageously before the Cross. She sought to be with Christ in His suffering.? And because of this, three days later, it was she who first saw the glory of the Risen Lord. This encounter transformed her sorrow into joy and made her the Apostle to the Apostles. The great Carmelite mystic Saint John of the Cross says, ?Whoever does not seek the Cross of Christ does not seek the glory of Christ.? The glory of Christ is hidden in His Passion. This is the wonderful secret of the Cross! Saint Peter reminds us, ?Rejoice in so far as you share Christ?s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed? (1 Peter 4:13). Like Saint Mary Magdalene, if we stand at the foot of the Cross with a willingness to suffer with Him, we too will encounter the risen Lord, and He will turn our messes into messages, our tests into testimonies, and our trials into triumphs. Lord Jesus, I give myself wholly to you through the hands of Mother Mary. Give me the strength to carry my cross after You, all the days of my life. Amen.

There is, to be sure, a stress within the Biblical tradition that God is radically other: ?Truly, you are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Saviour? (Isaiah 45:15) and ?No one shall see [God] and live? (Exodus 33:20). This speaks to the fact that the one who creates the entire universe from nothing cannot be, Himself, an item within the universe, one being alongside of others. At the same time, the scriptures also attest to God?s omnipresence: ?Your wisdom reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well? (Wisdom 8:1) and ?Where can I go from Your spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; ... If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me fast? (Psalm 139:7-12). This speaks to the fact that God sustains the universe in existence from moment to moment, the way a singer sustains a song. What is perhaps the defining feature of the spirituality associated with Saint Ignatius of Loyola??finding God in all things??flows from this second great biblical emphasis. Despite His transcendence, God should not be thought of as distant in any conventional sense of the term, certainly not in the Deist manner. Rather, as Thomas Aquinas taught, God is in all things, ?by essence, presence and power.? Mind you, since God is endowed?with intellect, will and freedom He is never dumbly present, but always personally and intentionally present, offering something of Himself to us. Therefore, the search for God can commence right here, right now, with whatever is at hand. One of the questions in the old Baltimore Catechism was ?Where is God?? The correct answer was ?everywhere.? Once that truth sinks in our lives irrevocably change, for now every person, every event, every sorrow, every encounter becomes an opportunity for communion with God. The 17th century Jesuit spiritual master, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, expressed the same idea when he said everything that happens to us is, directly or indirectly, the will of God. Once again, it is impossible to accept the truth of that statement and remain the same person you were before. This already graced quality of ?all things? functions as the starting-point for Ignatius? spirituality. Ignatius had been very much on my mind while I was in Europe filming a documentary on his life and teachings for my ?Pivotal Players? series. On the long flight from Los Angeles to Rome, I had occasion to enact the principle I just described. Ever since I was kid, I loved maps and so when I find myself on a lengthy plane voyage, I spend a good deal of time with the flight map, which tracks the location of the plane, vis-?-vis landmarks on the ground. I read and watched some videos the first part of the flight and then I slept most?of the time we were over the Atlantic, but when I woke I began studying the map with great interest. We were passing just north of Ireland and I could clearly see the indications for Dublin, where my mother?s father was born, and for Waterford, where my father?s grandfather was born. I commenced to think about these men? neither of whom I had ever met?who bore the Catholic faith that eventually came to my mother and father and finally to me, as a sheer grace. As the plane continued its journey across the English Channel, northern France came into view on the map and I saw the great name ?Paris.? A slew of memories flooded my mind: my simple room at the Redemptorist House on the Boulevard du Montparnasse, Notre Dame, where I used to give tours to English-speaking visitors; the Institut Catholique where I did my doctoral studies; all of my Parisian friends, teachers and colleagues who accompanied me across those three years; the beauty of Paris on a rainy day. All of it, I knew, was a grace, a sheer gift. Next, I saw we were approaching the Alps so I opened the window screen and looked down on the snow-capped mountains gleaming in the sun. How could I not appreciate this view, which untold generations of humans would not have even imagined possible, as a splendid gift? In a word, the simple study of a flight map toward the end of a tedious journey became a rather marvelous occasion of grace. I wonder whether we would find this sort of experience less anomalous if we mused on the fact that God positively wants to share His life with us, wants to communicate with us. Perhaps the problem is that we stubbornly think of God in the Deist manner and relegate Him to a place of irrelevant transcendence. Then the spiritual burden is on us, to find some way to climb the holy mountain or sufficiently impress a demanding moral overlord. What if we accepted the deeply Biblical notion that God is always already busily and passionately searching for us, always already endeavoring to find ways to grace us with His love? What if we blithely accepted the truth that God can be found, as Ignatius taught, in all things?  

Life is hard and we often find ourselves in difficult situations. When overwhelmed or confused as to how to proceed on a specific issue, we sometimes need a road map. For Christians, the Bible and the teachings found in the ?Catechism of the Catholic Church? provide such maps; however, both can be daunting. Time constraints, not to mention the complexity and sheer size of both, hinder most of us from making use of these treasures. Most need Cliff Notes to navigate them, especially when time is of the essence and we must decide quickly. Our issues are often modern ones, such as those arising from technology. Consequently, we do not always get clear-cut answers. They must be inferred or ferreted out, a tricky task that often requires some training in these sources. Many times, answers to questions must wait for the Magisterium to address, taking extra time without a specific answer. The good news is that Jesus provides a touchstone or marker by which all decisions can be made and by which one can judge any action. During Jesus? ministry, He was questioned regarding which is the greatest commandment of the law (Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 22:34-46 and cf. Luke 10:25-37). Later, Rabbinic Judaism would articulate a total of 613 laws in the Torah or Pentateuch. Jesus? response proves Him a master rabbi while simultaneously providing us with a benchmark by which to judge all actions and decisions?our roadmap distilling the Torah down to its essence. Jesus responds to the question by quoting perhaps the most well-known text to Jews in the first century, as well as today, and then adds to it a lesser-known text from the Torah. He combines them in such a way that His authority and His divinity are presupposed. His response to the question begins by quoting the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4-5. In what scholars generally agree is our earliest Gospel, Mark 12:29 states that Jesus answers, ?The first is ?Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.?? Jesus then continues by quoting the remainder of the Shema: ?You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind? (Deuteronomy 6:5 and cf. Mark 12:30). Jesus explains this is the greatest, most important commandment (Mark 12:28-29 and Matthew 22:40). The Shema, which means ?Hear!? in Hebrew and is a reference to the first Hebrew word in the statement, commands Israel to hear. It was and is today the classic monotheistic declaration of faith for Jews. Jesus then goes on to explain that there is a second commandment and He quotes Leviticus 19:18: ?Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.? Matthew 22:39-40 reads, ?And a second is like it: ?You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.? Mark 12:31 adds Jesus explaining, ?There is no other commandment greater than these." In distilling the entire law down to its essence, what comes to the fore and is relevant for our purpose is that Jesus points to one salient thing?love. Both texts from the Torah use the Hebrew root ahavah. It is no coincidence that Jesus points to this concept for, after all, The New Testament explicitly says, ?God is love? (1 John 4:8b). Love fulfills the law or is the essence of the law and God is love. Many, such as the Franciscan friar and modern mystic Richard Rohr, in his recent book, ?The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation,? suggest God?s very language is love and that the Trinity exists in love. Thus, in the end, love is what it is all about: love of God and humanity, precisely what Jesus explains is most important. Could there be a bigger authority than Jesus for Christians? This coheres with what Saint Paul, the Apostle to the gentiles, writes in Galatians 5:14: ?For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ?You shall love your neighbor as yourself?" (cf. Romans 13:9 and James 2:8). First Peter 4:8-10 also explains, ?Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.? Love or ahavah is at the core of the Christian life. Ahavah is God?s very nature (1 John 4:8b) and it is not a stretch to assume love is what binds us all together. Another modern-day mystic of the faith, the late Benedictine monk Bede Griffiths, in ?The Golden String? eloquently said, ?For love can give us a kind of knowledge that is beyond both faith and reason. The divine mystery is ultimately a mystery of love ?? Jesus teaching on ahavah also provides a framework by which to judge all actions and decisions?one of love. You should always ask, ?Will my action or decision show love to God or neighbor?? You might wonder what it means to love God with all your heart, soul and mind. For starters, spending time with God and refraining from that which sets us apart from Him is one way to demonstrate love of God. How do you love your neighbor as yourself, you might also ask? First and foremost, by seeking the welfare and best for another, even at the expense of yourself. Saint John Paul II reminds us that a true life consists of giving it away. Thomas Merton wrote, ?Clean, unselfish love does not live on what it gets but on what it gives. It increases by pouring itself out for others, grows by self-sacrifice and becomes mighty by throwing itself away.? This is a paradox and counterintuitive. As with so many of Jesus? and the Gospel?s teachings, it turns our conceptions on their head. Nevertheless, in giving oneself away, or dying to self, we find true freedom and life. This dying to self and ridding ourselves of the ego or ?false self? is what it means to be in Christ. Galatians 2:20 reads, ?And it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.? You may wonder how to apply ahavah in practice. You might ask, ?Should I forgive the person who did that horrible thing to me, who really hurt me or mine and caused me much suffering?? According to the principle of ahavah for God and other, an unequivocal ?yes? is the answer, for loving our neighbor would entail forgiving him. There would be no ahavah in withholding forgiveness; rather, it would harm you and potentially your neighbor. This is in alignment with the teaching of Jesus elsewhere in His ministry. Specifically, it is imperative for our eternal wellbeing that we forgive one another (Matthew 6:15 and 18:35). You will find the principle of Jesus? teaching on ahavah coheres with all of Scripture and brings wellbeing to others and us. Its divine origin summarizes and is the pinnacle of the law in a quick and easy teaching. It is easily called to mind, thus serving as a helpful touchstone. As another example, suppose a parent is trying to figure out how much time he or she should allow a child to use an iPad per day. For obvious reasons, Scripture and the Catechism are silent on this modern dilemma. Yet, for a child?s growth and wellbeing it is important to figure out. Jesus? summation of the law and His pointing to the ahavah of God and neighbor actually provides the key. In this case, you might ask and reflect on how you love your neighbor?your very own child. How do you demonstrate ahavah for your child in this case, rather than what is most convenient for you? Loving the child might be allowing only a few minutes a day on the iPad. This way, the child will learn to cultivate other habits such as reading, socializing or playing outside in nature. Every case will be different and prayer is always recommended, but Jesus? summary of the law provides the key to judge all decisions and actions. It is a framework that helps us seek the love of God and neighbor and not self. As issues arise in daily living, we can quickly rely on this principle by asking ourselves what will allow for the greatest show of love for God or neighbor. In these examples and in other cases, when we are able to demonstrate love of neighbor, it nearly always follows that the love of God is present and vice versa. Saint Paul writes, in Galatians 5:14, ?For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ?You shall love your neighbor as yourself.?? Jesus pointed to this principle as being at the core of what it is means to follow God. Ahavah is at the core of our very life, for it is the core of God. It follows, then, that it should be our road map in all matters. It is fitting to close with a text we should memorize on ahavah and we should start making use of it. When the question was posed to Jesus as to which is the greatest commandment in the law, He answered, "The first is, ?Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, ?You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:29- 31). It truly all boils down to ahavah.