An impressive video that draws an analogy between the process that the wood must undergo in order to be formed and our own process to be made into a new creation in Christ. It is Christ himself who lays down the path before us by his example on the Cross, manifesting the truth: “Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Lk 17:33)
The time of Holy Week is a time of reflection and a call to conversion. But, what do we mean when we talk about conversion? Conversion is a gradual process of interior change in which we die to our old self and, in welcoming the grace of Christ, we become a new creation. This process, however, necessarily passes through the Cross! There is no second way, no shortcut, no plan B.
There is no Christianity without the Cross. Daily, we are presented with the temptation of St. Peter: Lord, “I will follow you, but let us not speak of the Cross; I will follow you on other terms, but without the Cross.”
Resurrect
Christ, however, did indeed choose the Cross and reminds us, time and time again, that we must embrace it if we seek true happiness and authentic love. We must place ourselves in God’s hands and allow ourselves to be formed by him. We, like the pieces of wood, must undergo the various stages of drilling, nailing, sawing, shaping and staining… all of which carries us towards our full realization as a new creation, as sons and daughters of God!
“Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Lk 17:33), as Jesus says throughout the Gospels. In these words, Jesus portrays his own path, which leads through the Cross to the Resurrection: the path of the grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies, and in this way bears much fruit. Starting from the depths of his own sacrifice and of the love that reaches fulfillment therein, he also portrays in these words the essence of love and indeed of human life itself.” – Benedict XVI
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