“We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to many.

Suffering sometimes seems unbearable. For Christians, the cross can make us very uncomfortable; it makes the temptation to “hide from suffering” more difficult. The cross reminds us that suffering is. It happens. It is part of life, and there is no getting around it. The only true spiritual path is the one that passes through suffering. By looking at the cross (sometimes it feels more like the cross is staring into us), we are given the courage to face our suffering and the suffering of others. . . .

Many years ago, one of my Dominican brothers, Fr. Jim Campbell, OP, was sitting in a Zen-Christian meditation hall in Japan, trying to [meditate] while suffering from excruciating back pain, for which he ultimately underwent surgery. Feeling he could go on no longer, he was about to abandon the practice when he glanced up and saw a small wooden cross on the wall. He said years later, “It all made sense—the cross, the pain, the promise of liberation. I knew then why I was a Christian.”

. . . [F]or many Christians down through the centuries, the cross has served as a kind of gentle mirror that helps us to see our sufferings and to touch them—not in a way that overwhelms us and leaves us feeling abandoned—but a seeing and touching that happen in and through and with our teacher, Jesus. By “watching him” embrace his suffering with patience and love, we see the path by which we too can journey forward.”

written by Fr. Brian J. Pierce, “We Walk the Path Together”