Jul 2014 The Road to Daybreak A Spiritual Journey by Henri J M Nouwen

Continue from ...... The Immense Suffering of Humanity Good Friday: day of the cross, day of suffering, day of hope, day of abandonment, day of victory, day of mourning, day of joy, day of endings, day of beginnings. During the liturgy at Trosly, Pere Thomas and Pere Gilbert, a former assistant who has become a priest for the L'Arche community in Trosly, took the huge cross that hangs behind the altar from the wall and held it so that the whole community could come and kiss the dead body of Christ. They all came, more than four hundred people - handicapped men and women and their assistants and friends. Everybody seemed to know very well what they were doing: expressing their love and gratitude for him who gave his life for them. As they were crowding around the cross and kissing the feet and the head of Jesus, I closed my eyes and could see his sacred body stretched out and crucified upon our planet earth. I saw the immense suffering of humanity during the centuries: people killing each other; people dying from starvation and epidemics; people driven from their homes; people sleeping on the streets of large cities; people clinging to each other in desperation; people flagellated, tortured, burned, and mutilated; people alone in locked flats, in prison dungeons, in labour camps; people carving a gentle word, a friendly letter, a consoling embrace, people - children, teenagers, adults, middle-aged, and elderly - all crying out with an anguished voice: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken us?" Imagining the naked, lacerated body of Christ stretched out over our globe, I was filled with horror. But as I opened my eyes I saw Jacques, who bears the marks of suffering in his face, kiss the body with passion and tears in his eyes. I saw Ivan carried on Michael's back. I saw Edith coming in her wheelchair. As they came - walking or limping, seeing or blind, hearing or deaf - I saw the endless procession of humanity gathering around the sacred body of Jesus, covering it with their tears and their kisses, and slowly moving away from it comforted and consoled by such great love. There were signs of relief; there were smiles breaking through tear-filled eyes; there were hands in hands and arms in arms. With my mind's eye I saw the huge crowds of isolated, agonizing individuals walking away from the cross together, bound by the love they had seen with their own eyes and touched with their own lips. The cross of horror became the cross of hope, the tortured body became the body that gives new life; the gaping wounds became the source of forgiveness, healing, and re-conciliation. Pere Thomas and Pere Gilbert were still holding the cross. The last people came, knelt, and kissed the body, and left. It was quiet, very quiet. Pere Gilbert then gave me a large chalice with the consecrated bread and pointed to the crowd standing around the altar. I took the chalice and moved among those whom I had seen coming to the cross; looked at their hungry eyes and said, "The body of Christ ... the body of Christ ... the body of Christ" countless times. The small community became all of humanity, and I knew that all I needed to say my whole life long was, "Take and eat. This is the body of Christ."

- To Be Continued - © Copyright Shalom 2013. All rights reserved.