March 27

ot only need we feel no shame for the death of the Lord our God: we should put all our trust in it and take pride in it, since having taken up himself the death he found in us, he has promised that we shall find our life in him, a life we could never have of ourselves. If he who was sinless so loved us as to be willing to suffer what we had deserved for our sins, then surely he who has justified us will gladly give us the recompense of the just. Will he not reward his saints according to his faithful promise, when he took upon himself, guiltless though he was, the punishment due to the guilty?

And so, let us confidently acknowledge and openly declare that Christ was crucified for our sake, proclaiming it with joy and pride, not with fear and shame. The apostle Paul saw in this reason for boasting. He could have told us many great and holy things about Christ: how as God he shared with his Father the work of creation, and how as man like us he was master of the world. But he would not glory in any of these wonderful things. God forbid that I should boast of anything, he said, except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.

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