The Path to Glory

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

Most of us approach life with a set of convictions and principles that inform our actions, our worship, our lifestyle, our very being. These convictions are learned responses to life situations as well as the results of education and formation. When the path of our life challenges those convictions and principle, we are sometimes forced to reevaluation or reinterpret those convictions, never an easy task, especially if our reexamination points to the need for a change.

The post-resurrection accounts of the Gospels as well as much of the Acts of the Apostles present the early Christian community with situations. We read in these accounts that Jesus sometimes spends time explaining the Scriptures to them so that they can better understand that his passion, death, and resurrection are all part of a plan that God had put into place shortly after the sin of Adam.

Much of the Hebrew Scriptures reveals that the Israelites thought of God as a reciprocal deity; i.e. God rewarded the just and punished the wicked. That notion of God was often challenged in the lives of the Israelites. In such cases, they often fell back on the idea that the person who experienced "punishment" in the form of disease or disaster had to be guilty of a secret sin, or that perhaps his ancestors had been guilty and he was realizing their punishment.

However, such thinking became impossible with the person of Jesus. The Just One, the Holy One of God, had befallen the most ignominious fate when he was crucified. How could this be part of God's plan? The resurrection restored Christ to life, eternal life at that. When Jesus explains this to the disciples, he usually shows them that his suffering was the doorway to eternal life. The cross is the path to glory. The same is true for us as it was for Jesus. Only when we embrace the crosses present in our lives will we find the path to eternal life.