The Cross Inside

+JMJ+

I began the day unassumingly. Oatmeal...coffee...a quick shower and packing my bag. I had C. Dziwisz's "A Life with Karol" initially, but then I thought it was too heavy to carry. Re-evaluating the number of books I'd take on my adventure, I determined the need for additional reading material...and chose Edith Stein's (St. Theresa Benedicta) "Science of the Cross" quite randomly. It was too early in the morning for me to realize what I had done...

I am a firm believer in Sundaying...and refuse to do labor any longer, unless it is a life-and-death or Evangelization related affair. My intention for today: Mass, prayer, and lots of good reading...and a little baking. Mission accomplished!

Now, back to the book selection. I wandered to the Lakefront, coffee in hand, after Mass, and found a perfect spot on the rocks to sit and read. I pulled out my book, and as I read through the introduction I realized--today is the anniversary of Edith's birth! Now, mind you, I haven't actually read any of her texts for quite a while--clearly there was some Divine intervention in my book selection.

Now, the Science of the Cross is the last book dear Edith wrote. There is so much to say about the back story! But, I cannot go into that now. But there is an excellent theme I'd like to share with you. Yesterday someone pointed out to me my idealism. Today I thought, it is good to be idealistic. There are too many people out there that are realistic-pessimists. I choose not to be such a person. But, perhaps prudent idealism is called for--I submit this as a proposition.

Here is what I read today in the introduction written by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., to Edith's text, that I think plays into the concept of prudent idealism:

"Where through a lively faith the doctrine of faith and the "tremendous deeds" of God are the content of life, a "holy realism" as Edith calls it, exists. Out of this realism comes an openness, in uninhibited simplicity, to the truths of faith, from which springs the science of the saints. If the mystery of the cross becomes the inner form of this science, a living energy that allows the soul to be molded by what it received from this mystery, it turns into a science of the cross."

There is so much here! Really, Edith had in mind something that was living, not static, not purely theoretical. When she thought and wrote science of the cross she had in mind Truth, Truth that influences and affects all that one does--transforming and conforming one's world view to see through the eyes of Christ on the Cross. Can you imagine living in such a way? Do you beleive that this, truly, is the vocation of all Christians?

When I think about idealism, I think about Christ Himself. He never said, "well, they are going to do it any way, might as well minimize the damage." He breathed the BEST OPTION. Jesus is all about the ideal standard and the highest goal. The worst thing we could possibly do in this life is be mediocre, is resign ourselves to the status quo. We must be idealists if we want to be a part of the cultural revolution that is so desperately needed!

Yet, the virtue of prudence is essential. There is a time and place for everything--we must perpetually be witness to Truth, and to the BEST of humanity. Yet, we must pray for good judgment and prudence in all of our actions, so that we are constantly in communion with God's Holy Will and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our actions and activities, for the Greater Glory of God.

This is where Edith's synthesis of St. John of the Cross' spirituality fits in. Can we truly espouse a science of the Cross in our own lives? Can we live spiritually what St. Francis lived physically--as if we have the Stigmata imprinted upon our very being? Surely, it is a radical way of life! But, doesn't the world hunger for that radical witness? With the virtue of prudence and a firm Hope in Christ, we can live the ideal, and bear witness to the science of the Cross...