Let your wounds help heal others

BY SIHLE MAGUBANE

AS we prepare for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14, we may fruitfully reflect on the executed Christ. To Roman officials and soldiers, the cross would have meant nothing more than what an electric chair or lethal injection represents in those countries which still practise capital punishment: an instrument of execution (perhaps with the added bonus of its grotesque inhumanity serving as a deterrent to political mobilisation).

For early Christians too, execution by crucifixion had bad connotations, not only because Christ was crucified, but also because many of their contemporaries would have been executed in this manner—a gruesome, torturous death.

We know that our Lord suffered this kind of death, a death fit for criminals. But there is light—hope—in the fact that although he suffered this type of shameful death, he was innocent, He was without sin. For that good news we are able to say today: “In cruce salus”—Christ’s death brought us eternal life.

How many times do we continuously die to our iniquities, simply because we don’t give them to God to use and absolve? We carry our addictions, unwanted pregnancies, losses and financial troubles with such shame that it cripples us. We often give these issues more credit than is their due.

What happened to the light burden that Christ offers us? We must reflect on where and how we have chosen the heavy burden which Christ takes away from us, and how, in that way, we have misplaced the light yoke.

We too, like Christ, must make our sufferings and wounds a source of life for others. Nothing reassures a person in crisis more than a loving presence which says: “I’ve been there”, without having to utter a word.

Christ in his glorified state says to us today: “I’ve been there, I understand, give your troubles to me.” He suffered and died, but most importantly, he is risen, and on this feast, we exalt his cross with him.