ccording to Fr. Alfiero Ceresoli, Xaverian Master of Novices in Italy and now working in Brazil, Easter is a moment when the missionary recalls that his only “arm” is “the crucifix”. In a meditation, sent to his confreres, Fr. Ceresoli points out that even in the Gospels “there are many ways of looking at the Crucifix”.
In fact, Mark “sees one abandoned: Abandoning him all fled”. Even “the Father seems to have abandoned that beloved Son, and he questions: Why?” Matthew instead, “discovers, in the dramatic story of the Master from Nazareth, the realization of the Scriptures. Luke contemplates the spectacle of the Christian martyr who dies pardoning; certainly all see the wounds, the blood, the humiliation, the immense pain, but the attention is moved elsewhere.
Stopping each day at the foot of the Crucifix, he listens to pardon and mercy, words of justice and of peace; he sees all violence removed and sees the anxiety of reuniting humanity into only one family of brothers and sisters
John listens to the insults, the torment of the nails wounds his soul – he will remember those lacerations the day of the Resurrection – but he prefers to contemplate the victorious King, who gives life and reunites his community with the sending of the Spirit.
Today, Fr. Ceresoli affirms that in his opinion the missionary has even another way of seeing things. “Stopping each day at the foot of the Crucifix, he listens to pardon and mercy, words of justice and of peace; he sees all violence removed and sees the anxiety of reuniting humanity into only one family of brothers and sisters, he discovers the hope of a new world, he looks toward love exploding for all and for ever. He contemplates the beauty of a life offered for others, the marvel of folly that is the wisdom and power of God, the winning words of the Cross. Without fears he can lift it in the midst of the peoples, not for useless and empty triumphs, but to present a different logic, a different God”.
(From VID)