The Scandal of the Cross

	Bishop David Zubik

From time to time, we all have one of those days which we quickly regret. I had one of those within the last couple of weeks. It was a day when I gathered together with a number of faithful from our diocese to bid farewell to Fr. Arthur Danks who served our diocese for nearly 64 years as a priest.

As I prepared myself to celebrate his funeral Mass, I tried to focus. That day, it was a challenge to do so.

Several hours before going to St. Joseph Church on the west side of Green Bay to celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial, I learned some very disturbing news about an individual who has been a very powerful inspiration and a model to me. The information that came my way that day left me more than a little disappointed. Perhaps I put this individual on a pedestal too high! What I learned made me feel that the proverbial "rug being pulled out from beneath me."

For as much as I tried to distract myself from the information that I learned, I felt disillusioned, disappointed, discouraged and, to be quite honest, I felt scandalized by something I would have never dreamt was part of my model's past. As much as I tried, I couldn't focus away from the news I received.

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Perhaps that set the stage for another scene of discouragement. I arrived at St. Joseph Church a little later than customary and not having the benefit of several quiet reflective moments before beginning the celebration of the Eucharist. As I was vesting, I began to engage in conversation in the sacristy. To be honest, my conversation was less than exemplary. My remarks, laced with undertones lacking charity, were interrupted by one of our priests who kindly came to inform me that my lavaliere microphone was on, giving full disclosure of my comments to the large crowd of worshipers in the nave of the Church. Clearly, I was embarrassed - embarrassed for the sake of people in the Church who heard my comments, but even more embarrassed at myself for having disregarded my need to speak more charitably.

Yet it was one of those lessons I needed to learn. It quickly dawned on me that, just as I was earlier that day scandalized by the action of someone to whom I looked for inspiration, I now faced the reality that my words served as a source of scandal to those who heard them with the help of a very effective PA system.

Over the course of these days since that incident, I've had a great deal of opportunity to think about scandal, how it sadly affects the good of the whole, and disillusions those who look for positive encouragement and reinforcement as fellow sojourners on the desired path to Heaven.

That incident has given rise to a goal which I need to consider (and which maybe you need to do as well) for the upcoming season of Lent!

In the readings that the Church chooses for Ash Wednesday, we hear Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew (6:1-6, 16-18) call us to be a people of fasting, prayer and good works. To prepare ourselves for Lent 2007, we need to consider whatever from which we need to fast; the kind and depth of prayer in which we need to grow; and, finally, the kinds of good works we need to do.

Might I suggest that in taking seriously the third challenge that Jesus offers us - to be a people of good works - you and I need to consider what becomes a source of scandal in our lives to others and seek to root that behavior out of our lives:

• if gossip occupies our speech,

• if "dirty jokes" reflect our humor,

• if R-rated movies are our entertainment,

• if insensitivity to the needy describes our lack of outreach,

• if prejudice defines our mindset,

• if stubbornness cripples our relationships,

• if laziness clouds our talents,

• if obsession to control leaves God out of the picture,

• THEN our spiritual work is cut out for us.

These types of behaviors not only contradict Jesus' expectation of us; they also serve potentially to give scandal to others and to dissuade others from taking faith and God more seriously.

The best antidote of such behaviors is actually another kind of "scandal" - the scandal of the Cross!

In his letter to the Christian community at Corinth (1:18-25) St. Paul speaks about the scandal of Jesus' Cross, the fact that Jesus as the Son of God was condemned and was executed for us - to free us from sin.

Most of us would rather not focus on the reality of sin either in our world or in our lives. Yet it does exist. Sin breaks our relationship with God. Sin scandalizes.

One of the excuses that many of us use in trying to avoid tackling sin is to excuse our behaviors as simply a part of human nature. No excuse could be further from the truth. If we truly believe God created us in His image and likeness - and He has - then it is incumbent on us to use every opportunity to let our human nature not be the agent of scandal, but rather reflect the hand and heart of our Creator God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and our Father as well.

As you and I prepare ourselves to begin the glory of the 40 days of Lent, may the scandal of the Cross of Jesus and our embrace of it be what we share with each other and not the scandal of unkind words, selfish deeds and un-Christlike lives.