“Blessed above all the trees of the forest be these rough planks I take on my shoulders, the balance on which my Passion is to be weighed against the sins of the world! This is the moment to which I looked forward when I first learned my trade at Nazareth, which I decreed at the dawning of creation, when I bade the trees bring forth fruit after their kind. Here is Noah’s ark, the refuge of drowning humanity; here is the rod of Aaron, ready to blossom with the flowers of salvation; here is the trunk on which Moses set up the brazen serpent for the healing of my people. Welcome the weight that bows me down, and the roughness that galls my torn flesh, and the shame it bears; for this is my Father’s Will, this is the token of his Love, this is the stroke of Divine Justice, cancelling the debt due from a guilty race. Welcome every painful step, the hard road I tread and the stones my feet stumble over; this journey is better than my entry into the Holy City a few days past, more triumphal still, for it is the pageant of self-immolated Love. It was Jacob boasted long ago, he had nothing but a staff with him, when he crossed the Jordan, and now he had come back with two companies behind him. And I, who set out with this Cross of mine now, will return to my Father’s kingdom at the head of a great army, all the faithful souls who will love my Cross and carry it in their own lives. This is the sceptre with which I will rule the world; this is the magnet by which, when I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.”
~Ronald Knox (excerpt from A Retreat for Lay People - Chapter: “The Way of Love”)
Comments