The cross: The cure for our 'cardio sclerosis'

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

Homily preached by Archbishop Thomas Wenski at Good Friday�s Service of the Lord�s Passion, April 18, 2014, at St. Mary Cathedral.

In the prophet Isaiah�s account of the Suffering Servant he says: �By his stripes, we were healed�.

Por sus llagas hemos sido sanados. Debemos preguntarnos, si esto fue la cura, cual fue la enfermedad?

Av�k tout kou li rezevwa yo, li ban nou gerizon. F� n mande t�t nou, si sa se te gerizon an, ki sa maladi a te ye?

As we contemplate the image of Jesus, beaten, tortured, and dying on the cross �� we must ask ourselves: If this was the cure, then what was the disease? And, of course, unless we recognize the disease � and recognize ourselves as diseased � we will fail to recognize that Jesus died not only because of us � but also for us.

�By his stripes, we are healed.� What was in essence that disease that required so drastic a cure? I am sure that most of you have heard of the disease called arteriosclerosis � hardening of the arteries. Perhaps we could call the disease from which we suffered, and for which Jesus suffered and died to save us, cardio sclerosis �hardening of the heart. Scriptures do not use this word, of course, but we find its equivalents in scripture: Ezekiel talks of �hearts of stone,� Jeremiah speaks of the �uncircumcised heart,� and Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy just calls it �stubbornness of heart.�

Cardio sclerosis, we could say, is a genetic disease. We inherit it from our first parents, Adam and Eve. They said �no� to God and his will. That original sin represented a turning away from God, a shutting out of God, from the heart, by building stone walls of self will. And while that cardio sclerosis can be said to be in our genes, as it were, it is aggravated by our own lifestyle choices � the times which we have ratified that �no� with our own sins. And indeed, this is what hardness of heart represents in Scripture: the refusal to submit to God, to love him with one�s whole heart, to obey his law.

Sometimes, we built a stone wall around our hearts to keep God out. This certainly would describe the situation of those who have expelled God from their hearts by deadly sin, mortal sin. But it also can be true that we built a stone wall to keep God in � to contain him, to keep him in place. This I think applies to many of us who have accepted Christ but our commitment is a bit lukewarm, and we like it just like that. We tacitly make God to understand what he can and cannot ask of us. Prayer yes, but as long as we don�t lose our sleep; obedience yes, but don�t abuse our availability; chastity, yes, but not to the point of depriving us of those racy movies or T.V. shows we like. In other words, this too is cardio sclerosis � if not to bar God, to tame him.

Si arteriosclerosis endurece las arterias del cuerpo, podemos hablar de un cardio sclerosis que afecta el alma: el endurecimiento del corazon. Es una enfermedad gen�tica. Nosotros la heredamos de nuestros primeros padres, Ad�n y Eva. Ellos dijeron "no" a Dios y su voluntad pero nosotros tambien hemos agravado la situacion con nuestros propios pecados. La dureza de coraz�n representa en la Escritura: la negativa a someterse a Dios, a amarlo con todo el coraz�n, a obedecer su ley. Jes�s muri� � para darnos un nuevo coraz�n. Ese coraz�n s�lo puede ser nuestro a trav�s de nuestra participaci�n en su Pasi�n, muerte y resurrecci�n, que da la vida nueva de la gracia, que es el fruto del Bautismo.

Jesus dies because of us but he also dies for us. He is truly man � his obedience makes up for the disobedience of our first parents: the Garden of Gethsemane redeems, as it were, the Garden of Eden. The human fear and treachery of Adam and Eve meets the human trust, love and obedience of Jesus of Nazareth whom God calls his beloved one. From the Old Testament times, the People of God repeated the psalmist�s prayer: �Create in me, O God, a new heart.�

Jezi mouri ak�z k� di nou an. Men, li mouri pou ban nou yon l�t k� Wi, k� nou te tounen di kou w�ch ak�z peche n yo; epi chak fwa nou di Bondye �non�, chak fwa nou refize viv dapre volonte li, k� nou vin pi di. Men, Jezi nan mouri li te mouri a, li di Bondye �wi�. Si nou p�di parade ak�z peche premye paran yo ak peche pa n yo, nou jwenn li ank� pout�t obeyizans Jezi. Kwa Jezi a se kle ki louvri ban nou p�t parade yo. Jezi pran peche n yo sou do l epi li ban yon k� toou n�f, yon k� ki kapab renmen menm jan li renmen.

This is why Jesus died � to give us that new heart. That heart can only be ours through our sharing in his Passion, through our own dying and rising with him from sin to the new life of grace that is the fruit of Baptism. May his suffering, death and Resurrection give us new hearts and thus overcome the cardio sclerosis of our human condition. Then, the cross of Christ will no longer appear to us as �folly and scandal� but, on the contrary, as �strength of God and wisdom of God.� The cross becomes not an instrument of torture but a reason for our certainty, the supreme proof of the love of God for us. With the new heart formed within the pierced heart of Christ himself, we can say with St. Paul: �Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.�

We adore thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee, because by Thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world!