Love Takes on a Cruciform Shape

Silhouette made from The Crucifixion by Pedro de Campaña (ca. 1550), downloaded from Wikimedia.

For those he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29)

During my first year as a volunteer catechist, I had a group of seventh graders for religious education (usually called CCD). I was teaching about love, and the children were getting slightly unruly. We were in a classroom of a Catholic elementary school. In a moment of inspiration, I spoke in a loud voice, "Do you want to know what love is?" And I pointed to the crucifix behind me above the blackboard. And their eyes were wide open.

I'm thankful that the Mass today was actually celebrated as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (the priests at the chapel where the Mass was celebrated had permission to celebrate Mass as a solemnity instead of as a memorial). The second reading was from the eighth chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Romans. There Paul tells us that Christians are to be conformed to the image of the Father's Son, Christ Jesus. In that, Mary is a model Christian, as Simeon foretold at the presentation of Jesus in the temple (Lk 2:35-16), "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." The heart of Mary is united to the heart of her son, Jesus. In the Gospels, Jesus repeated tells us to take up our cross and follow him. Mary tells us, "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5).

Love takes on a cruciform shape. We are to unite our hearts to that of Jesus in His love for the Father. This is the vertical component. And we are to unite our hearts to that of Jesus in His love for our neighbors. This is the horizontal component.

Holy Communion, in Mass, takes on a cruciform shape. In Jesus Christ, as a Church, we become horizontally united in our worship together. We become united in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in His sacrificial offering to God the Father. This is the vertical dimension.

Hence, the pattern of our lives begins in the Mass and is brought forth in our lives, so that we might imitate Christ in apape love. This is the source and summit of our lives, that which carries us off to Heaven in the chariot of loving fire.

The quote of Fr. Philip Neri Powell comes from his blog, Domine, da mihi hanc aquam!