{"id":24932,"date":"2009-09-14T09:15:13","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T13:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/09\/the-cross-is-no-failure\/"},"modified":"2009-09-14T09:15:13","modified_gmt":"2009-09-14T13:15:13","slug":"the-cross-is-no-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/09\/the-cross-is-no-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"The cross is no failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cross<\/a>In one respect the cross does have a terrible aspect
\nthat we ought not to remove. To see that the purest of men, who was more than a
\nman, was executed in such a grisly way can make us frightened of ourselves. But
\nwe also need to be frightened of ourselves and out of our self-complacency.<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
Here,
\nI think, Luther was right when he said that man must first be frightened of
\nhimself so that he can then find the right way<\/span>. However, the cross doesn’t stop
\nat being a horror; it is not merely a horror, because the one who looks down at
\nus from the cross<\/b> is not a failure, a desperate man, not one of the horrible
\nvictims of humanity<\/i>.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
For this crucified man says something different from
\nSpartacus and his failed adherents, because, after all, what looks down at us
\nfrom the cross is a goodness<\/span> that enables a new beginning in the midst of
\nlife’s horror. The goodness of God himself looks on us, God who surrenders
\nhimself into our hands<\/span>, delivers himself to us, and bears<\/b> the whole horror of
\nhistory with us.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
Looked at more deeply this sign, which forces us to look at
\nthe dangerousness of man and all his heinous deeds, at the same time<\/i> makes us
\nlook upon God, who is stronger, stronger in his weakness, and upon the fact
\nthat we are loved by God<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
It is in this sense a sign of forgiveness that also
\nbrings hope<\/b> into the abysses of history. God is crucified and says to us that
\nthis God who is apparently so weak is the God who incomprehensibly forgives us
\nand who in his seeming absence is stronger.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
Benedictus<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/i>Pope Benedict XVI<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one respect the cross does have a terrible aspect that we ought not to remove. To see that the purest of men, who was more than a man, was executed in such a grisly way can make us frightened of ourselves. But we also need to be frightened of ourselves and out of our … Continue reading The cross is no failure<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1758,1713],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}