Editorial: The Victorious Cross

The Victorious Cross

O ne of the stickiest points of Montfort Spirituality is its evident stress on our sharing in the victorious cross of Christ.

Sticky, because Saint Louis de Montfort’s teaching on the subject is, in the eyes of many, difficult, even embarrassing. In a certain sense, they are correct. In fact, if we do not find it demanding and at times offensive, have we really penetrated into the depths of his thought? Louis de Montfort never preached to please. Rather, he boldly proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is eminently true of the doctrine of the cross. When Jesus says: “take up the cross daily . . . unless the grain of wheat die . . . deny yourself . . . ,”.  Montfort takes him at his word. It is not surprising, then, to find difficult and demanding expressions in the writings of Saint Louis. “Be prepared, then, to be forsaken by people and by angels and seemingly even by God; to be persecuted, envied, betrayed, slandered, discredited and abandoned by everyone; to suffer hunger, thirst, poverty, nakedness, exile, imprisonment, the gallows and all kinds of torture even though you have done nothing to deserve it (Friends of the Cross 54). On his famous Wisdom Cross, the saint inscribed the words: ‘love of crosses, desire of crosses: contempt, pain, abuse, insults, disgrace, persecution, humiliations, calumnies, illness, injuries”.

Take Up Your Cross Daily

For Montfort, to be a Christian is synonymous with victoriously suffering in and with Christ. “Friend of the Cross is the glorious title of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. It is the genuine title of a Christian* (Friends of the Cross 3). Our Lady, the first Christian, evidently experienced this truth. She experienced it as she followed her Son on the way of the cross to Calvary’s hill. Since Mary is the Christian, no one has so deeply shared in Christ’s cross as his Mother.  (cf Friends of the Cross 31).

And if during this pilgrimage of life we are to follow Mary on our journey to Jesus, we too so deeply experience the cross. Montfort speaks about Our Lady dipping our crosses into sugar. She does so that they will be easier to bear (True Devotion 154). However, the saint is not saying that Mary’s presence makes the dark night any brighter or the pain less severe. Rather, she gives us the joyful strength to bear the cross out of love for Christ and our brothers and sisters. And even that is not, as the saint clearly explains, necessarily felt or sensibly experienced. (cf Friends of the Cross 50-53).

The Cross Means Intimacy With Christ

It is the delight within the center of the soul, “without any feeling of joy in the senses of pleasure in the mind”. (Friends of the Cross 53). The cross means, according to Montfort Spirituality, that the intimacy with Christ crucified must be so complete that it often includes his cry of desolation from the cross.  The full depths of Calvary, together with its apparent meaninglessness, must be known by the Christian who hopes to see the angels at the empty tomb. In the midst of our trials, there is, at times, not a single ray of light.

That is a great gift – known especially by those who live Montfort’s consecration spiritually appreciated with the eyes of faith. It is the unmerited favor of so deeply participating in the cross that we too cry out with Jesus crucified. “My God, by God, why have you forsaken me”? During this Easter Season, the glorious resurrection of the Lord must never be separated from his victorious cross. It is only in the emptiness of Calvary that the fullness of Easter is found.

At times, Father de Montfort so deeply tasted the bitter desolation of the cross that he was seen with his head in his hands, tears flowing from his eyes. And yet – Gospel paradox! –  he would say that such a heavy cross is a precious grace of the victorious Lord.

Montfort’s stress on the triumph of the cross is an anomaly for many of the citizens of hedonistic western culture and also for all who mistakenly believe that sharing in the cross is not necessary for Easter joy. Some would even prefer that much of his writings on our sharing in the cross of Christ be toned down, if not eliminated from his teachings. That would entail not only a betrayal of Saint Louis de Montfort but – far worse – a subversion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.