I want to tell you a story about Joe Hall, a young man that I knew in college. Joe was an extremely busy and vibrant college student. He was taking a full load of college courses and looking to graduate in three years. He had a volunteer position as a Catholic youth minister, he worked out, he was leading a faith sharing group, he had an internship and he loved the outdoors. But then Joe started noticing some physical symptoms: he had to go to the bathroom more often, wasn’t eating well and had some stomach cramps. But with everything else going on in his life he tried to just push through the pain. He had several different medical checkups after continuing to experience symptoms, but nothing showed up. Then one day a CT scan revealed a malignant tumor in his abdomen. It was a rare form of cancer with a very bad prognosis. As Joe put it, within one week, he went from graduating from college, getting ready to move into an apartment with his buddies, dating a girl and continuing his internship, to being at the Mayo clinic having a port placed in his chest to run chemo into his body.
This would be way too much for most people in their early twenties, but not for Joe. Three years into his battle with cancer and shortly before his death, Joe said this in an interview: “I know that even if I was miraculously healed as we’re sitting here doing this video, and I mean miraculously healed, not just in the sense of like, my tumors were gone, but my joints were repaired and … the Lord decided He wanted me to weigh another, like, fifty or sixty pounds like I did, and … gave me my pre cancer body back and .. said … ‘Here you have a new lease on life, like, … you’ve passed, you’ve persevered long enough, congratulations, here you go.” I know that … that is not enough to bring me peace, joy and fulfillment. And I know that even if I was able to go out and hit every single career goal and every single personal goal and every single relationship goal and I had like this great, holy, Catholic marriage with these wonderful, holy children who all become saints and I’m making millions of dollars running an incredibly successful corporation that does all these amazing good things–like, none of those things is capable of filling, satisfying, giving me the peace that I need. And I know that because I’m sitting in a position where I have none of those things and I still have peace.”
Those are the words of a man whose heart has been formed and strengthened by the Cross of Jesus Christ. That kind of strength doesn’t come from just anywhere. It comes from the Cross. On the Cross, Jesus shows us where true riches lie. Beyond wealth, success, power, and whatever else we think will satisfy us, Jesus is there, calling out to us to find the source of our lives in Him. On the Cross, Jesus is stripped, tortured, in agony and mostly alone. And yet He reigns there as King. This is the beautiful paradox of our faith.
We see Jesus reigning on the Cross in spite of the ugliness of sin and death. Think about the sin you most regret in life–that thing that hurt you profoundly and removed you far from the God who loves you. Now add to that all of the many other ways, small and large, that you have hurt yourself, your relationship with God and others throughout your life. Think of the weight of all of those sins, the debt owed because of them and multiply it by all the countless billions who have ever lived or will live. All of that weight of ugliness and darkness was laid on Him. Jesus, our Savior, with perfect love and humility, accepted this crushing weight of punishment that we deserve. He gave Himself freely as the offering to satisfy the price of our sin. He could do this because of who He was and is. Jesus was and is truly human, our brother in all things but sin. So He is able to give himself as one of us, to pay the human price of sin. And His self offering is more than enough to satisfy the debt of all of our sins, because Jesus is also truly God. With His Divinity, Jesus is able to bear that weight to the very end and overcome it through His death. Because death could not hold Him. More on that later!
This is how people like Joe Hall, and all Christians who have suffered the worst physical things we can imagine, could still remain hopeful and at peace. Their hearts were united with the victorious Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Cross. You can tell by his wise words that Joe had accepted the cross of His suffering and was being strengthened by Jesus. This is a great example for all of us. I can only imagine that in Joe’s depths, he was at peace because he knew that Jesus was transforming his physical pain into something powerful by His victory on the Cross. Beyond that, I am sure that Jesus was also working powerfully within Joe to heal his wounds of sin.
Brothers and sisters, this is the hope that the Cross of Christ offers to all who humbly meet Jesus there: the Good News that no physical or spiritual evil can overcome His power! Jesus is victorious over sin and death, and we are victorious in Him!
So every time we make the sign of the Cross, let us be confident in Jesus’ power within us. Let this simple gesture help us to stand firm in the power of the Cross. When we find ourselves in times of darkness, suffering and sin, let us always run to Jesus on the Cross, letting in His strength to fill, defend, comfort and heal us. I pray that we spend our lives seeking out the power of Jesus’ Cross in the Scriptures, in daily prayer and above all in the Sacraments. Thank you Lord, thank you for helping us be victorious through Your Cross!
+ We adore You, O Christ and we praise You, because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. Amen. +