“…The Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Luke (21:27).
I recently heard the story of Father Francesco Bressani, who was an Italian Jesuit missionary priest who arrived in North America in the middle of the seventeenth century.
One day, both he and one of the young men who had been recently converted to Catholicism, were captured and tortured for their faith. Their martyrdom lasted several weeks. It was a slow and painful torture for their faith.
The Jesuit wrote to his Superior during his torture, “I have no more than one entire finger; six times they burned my hands, over eighteen times they have applied fire and hot iron on my body and forced me to sing during the ordeal.”
And his companion suffered also. Once, when his companion was being tortured, he called out to the priest saying, “Father Bressani, I can't take this anymore, I see I'm going to waver: Quick, quick, Father, show me your hands – they tell me how to love God..!”
And I have been reflecting on those words – “show me your hands”…
You see, when I enter a church, I look to the crucifix. And I see it there before me – usually behind the altar or in another equally prominent place in the church. And on the crucifix, I see Christ stretched out – with His hands pierced with nails. And as I contemplate that suffering and those hands, I think of what that suffering means…
You see when a mother gives birth to her child it hurts. It either hurts at the time because she has taken only limited pain relief during the delivery, or it hurts later as she is recovering from the birth – but either way, there is pain – because it is in that PAIN that we can see love…
And Christ knew that and warned us about that even twenty centuries ago when He said, “Great distress shall be upon the earth and wrath upon this people; they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled... And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:20-28).
For after all the pain and all the suffering. After all the fear and all the anguish. After all the injustice and all the torture. Then – and only then – will the Son of Man come. And then – and only then – will we see the unimaginably beautiful Face of God.
And so, as I enter the church and look towards the crucifix, I see the Hands of my Beloved pierced by nails, and I remember the tortured hands of the Jesuit. And I think to myself, that even despite all the suffering of this world, it is my Christian duty to look up, for “the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Luke (21:27).
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
Comments