NOTES for Co1 1:18-24
“We venerate Your Cross, O Christ...” What do these words mean to us? Boundless compassion for the innocent, beaten, naked righteous man hanging upon this tree. Love for Him, infinite gratitude. And also the understanding of how infinitely lighter our own cross is. All our problems that seem unbearable are nothing compared with the measure of suffering He took upon Himself for our sake. “You who so loved Your world...”
And there are other words: “Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother.’” Upon these words the Church, the strongest of strongholds, is built. We have all been adopted as sons and daughters, and this means that we can never be orphans. Orphanhood is a word from some other life. We often experience the Passion of Christ in prayer, but it is much harder to experience Mary’s suffering: His inconceivable physical pain and her inconceivable anguish of soul. This pain embraces the whole world.