For Jesus, the supreme model of humanity, true glory consists in the Cross, in the manly and serious acceptance of holocaust taken to its final consequences.
Newsdesk (01/07/2024 10:24, Gaudium Press) The deformations introduced into the modern mentality from the influence of Hollywood cinema, marked by the invariable “happy ending” – that imaginary rosy outcome that only happens on-screen – have heightened in recent decades, to extreme levels. This includes the tendency to detest any kind of suffering, as if suffering or sacrifice spelled the worst misfortune.
Parallel to this, a fervid desire for the enjoyment of life is generated, unscrupulously amassing possessions to gain access to a series of the most eccentric and excessive pleasures. Do not the celebrities of this world live such lives, surrounded by apparent luxury? Advanced technology, especially in the field of cutting-edge cybernetics, enfeebling conveniences, extravagant fashions, in short, a gamut of frenetic entertainment is within the reach of this class of people.
This is the contemporary fantasy: to gain a place in these ranks so as to achieve a supposedly unimaginable degree of happiness. The goal is to live a kind of fairy-tale dream, but stripped of the charms of aristocratic finery and dressed, instead, in the scrupulously torn, worn and grimy trappings of the wastelands of ugliness.
However, is this where true glory is found?
The teaching of the Divine Master
Our ancestors thought differently. The worth of each person was measured by their virtues: honour, courage, courtesy, honesty and perseverance, to name but a few. And these attributes became even more meritorious when they were supernaturalized by grace, carefully preserved from the risk of being lost through sin. Thus, praiseworthy figures distinguished themselves by having given their lives for a higher cause, for having been capable of facing peril and of making courageous renunciations.
Think of the honour paid to soldiers who bravely shed their blood for the good of their country, the consideration given to heads of families who led an austere existence in order to provide better conditions for their descendants, or the admiration aroused by the example of the knights of old, who stood ready, at the cost of their lives, to defend the weakest and neediest and, above all, the most sublime interests of the Holy Church.
For Jesus, the supreme model of humanity, true glory consists in the Cross, in the virile and serious acceptance of holocaust taken to its final consequences. Our Lord corroborated this teaching with the most explicit example given in the Passion and, accordingly, He now confronts and destroys the myths and fantasies with which the devil seeks to entrap in his sordid clutches the souls created for a higher glory. No, man was not born to wallow in the muddy quagmire of this world, but to conquer the sacrosanct heights of heroism. To do this, he must be willing to abandon the narrow confines of egoism and arm himself with the weapons of light in order to wage a magnificent combat.
If we want to be loved by God, we know the way: let us ask for strength to stay the course of pain to the end, and then we will have won and conquered the unfading crown of glory.
By Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, EP
Text extracted, with adaptations, from Heralds of the Gospel Magazine n. 197, March 2024.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan