The Bloody Sacrifice of the Cross

8. The Fruits of the Sacrifice of the Cross

The Cross is, as Holy Church sings in her Passion chant, “a tree beautifully adorned, environed with light, a noble tree, selected from all trees, no forest produces its equal in foliage, blossom and fruit.” The noble tree (arbor nobilis) of the Cross was besprinkled with the blood that gushed forth from the body of the Lamb; hence its branches are full of blossoms of grace and fruits of life—and its foliage, which neither withers nor falls, avails for the salvation of nations.³⁹39Folia ligni ad sanitatem gentium. (Apoc. 22, 2.) The manifold, blessed fruits of the noble tree of the Cross, “to which was granted the privilege of touching members so holy, of bearing the ransom of the world,” should now be considered in all their details.

1. The glory of redemption by the Cross is to the angels a mystery as attractive as it is impenetrable, hence we may conclude, the fruits of redemption must be immeasurably rich and precious. Ecce lignum crucis! Behold the Cross—what a sacrifice is there presented! Whose body is thereon immolated! Whose blood is there poured out! Whose life is thereon offered up! It is the body, the blood, the life of the God-Man—therefore the most magnificent sacrificial offering that may be conceived. This infinitely precious sacrifice is presented, after the most perfect manner, in the most perfect sentiments, by the infinitely exalted sacrificing Priest, Jesus Christ, upon the altar of the Cross, to the Most High for the salvation of the whole world. Therefore, inestimable, infinitely rich must be the treasure of grace and salvation purchased at so great and so dear a price, at the price of such a sacrifice. — In fact, through Christ’s blood we have not merely redemption from all sin and punishment, but also the fulness and superabundance of all the gifts of grace (Eph. 1, 8–10); by Christ’s death God has not only rescued us from the power of darkness, but yet more, translated us to the kingdom of His beloved Son and made us worthy to participate in the heritage of the saints in light (Col. 1, 12–13). Through Christ we have “fulness of grace and gifts” (Rom. 5, 15); for “where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Rom. 5, 20). p. 50“Through Christ’s unspeakable clemency, we have received more and greater gifts than we had lost by the envy of the devil. For those whom the wicked foe had driven from the happiness of their original abode, with them the Son of God has incorporated Himself and placed them at the right hand of the Father.”⁴⁰40St. Leo, First Sermon on the Lord’s Ascension. From the dust, from the depth of misery God has raised us and placed us by the side of the angels; He has elevated us to a height, dignity and glory which the heart of man could neither have conceived nor desired. Thus has God, “who is rich in mercy, for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together in Christ (by whose grace we are saved), and has raised us up together and has made us sit together in the heavenly places through Christ Jesus, that He might show in the ages to come the abundant riches of His grace (abundantes divitias gratiae suae), in His bounty toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2, 4–7). — What is the frightful abyss of misery and wretchedness from which we have been delivered by the Sacrifice of the Cross? And what are the heavenly gifts with which God, in Christ, has blessed us, according to the riches of His grace which has been imparted to us in superabundance (secundum divitias gratiae tuae, quae superabundavit in nobis)? (Eph. 1, 3–8).

2. By the fall of our first parents, the entire human race was plunged into the deepest and most deplorable misery; sin with its bitter consequences, like a crushing weight, lay heavy upon the children of Eve, banished from Paradise. They were spiritually dead, that is, they were deprived of the supernatural life of grace and had forfeited eternal happiness; hence, of themselves, they were absolutely incapable of rendering satisfaction for sin and its punishment and of propitiating the divine justice—they were also just as little capable of regaining and meriting the lost grace of being children of God and heirs to heaven. Without the mercies of the Lord, nothing would have remained for man to do but to pass from the distressing sufferings and trials of time into the hopeless pains and torments of eternity. This lamentable state in which man, full of concupiscence, infected with sin, was subject to temporal and eternal punishment, is justly considered and represented in Scripture as a hard slavery under the tyrannical dominion of Satan.

From all these evils, Christ redeemed poor, unfortunate humanity by the sacrifice of His life; He rendered on the Cross not only ample satisfaction for all the sins of the world, but also regained and merited for us all the gifts of grace. His passion and death possessed atoning and, at the same time, meritorious power and efficacy. By the treasure of satisfaction and merit comprised in the Sacrifice of the Cross, Christ paid for us to the divine justice so glorious a ransom that God delivered us from the slavery of Satan and reinstated us as His children.

3. Jesus Christ suffered and died in order to render satisfaction for the sins of the world:—how is this to be more clearly understood? Whoever is in the state of sin has not only incurred a debt, but is, moreover, liable to punishment; for in sin guilt and punishment (culpa et poena) are distinct. Both are evils that press upon sinful man and separate him from God; man laden with guilt and deserving of punishment, is a stranger to God and remains at a distance from Him, since God’s anger and displeasure are resting upon him. If these evils—guilt and punishment—are to be removed from man, if sin is to be utterly effaced, a commensurate satisfaction must, before all, be presented to the divine justice. Now, in what does satisfaction for sin and punishment consist, and in what degree has Christ rendered it by the sacrifice of His passion and death?

a) When man sins he offends God, that is, he violates the rights of God, he does God an injustice by refusing to Him due honor and submission, dishonors the supreme majesty of God, despises His infinite goodness. This places him in a state of guilt, that is, he thereby becomes an object of the divine displeasure and anger—an enemy of God (Rom. 5, 10). How can and how should this guilt be atoned for, that is, how can and how should be repaired the outrage offered to God by the contempt of the honor, esteem and love due to Him—and consequently, in what manner can and should God’s displeasure be overcome? To effect this, there is required such a voluntary act, that is, an action or a suffering, that honors the offended majesty of God as much as, or even more than, sin has displeased Him.⁴¹41Ille proprie satisfacit pro offensa, qui exhibet offenso id, quod aeque vel magis diligit, quam oderit offensam (S. Thom. 3, q. 48, a. 2). Satisfaction, therefore, reconciles man with an offended God, that is, it causes God to lay aside His anger and to be ready to forgive the guilt. Satisfaction for the guilt, consequently, is a mark of honor, or rather it is a restitution of honor; accordingly, a good work will answer the object of satisfaction so much the better the more it is calculated to honor and glorify God. This is the case most especially in sacrifice, since it is the principal act of religion. — From what has been said, it is evident how far and how exceedingly proper the Sacrifice of the Cross of Christ was to effect the atonement demanded by the debt of sin.⁴²42Morte sua quippe uno verissimo sacrificio pro nobis oblato, quidquid culparum erat, unde nos principatus et potestates (the powers of hell) ad luenda supplicia jure detinebant, purgavit, abolevit, exstinxit (S. August., De Trinit., l. 4, c. 13, n. 17).

Since Christ, through love and obedience to His Father, drained the bitter chalice of His passion and underwent the agony of death for us, He offered to God something far greater and more precious than was required to counterpoise all the offences that the sinful human race had committed and are still committing against Him; hence God received far more joy and pleasure in the infinitely precious propitiatory Sacrifice of the Cross than the pain and displeasure He experienced from all the sins of mankind. Jesus was obedient to His Father unto death—even unto the death of the Cross (Phil. 2, 8), and this His perfect obedience amply compensated for the disobedience of sinful man. How could the honor of which God was deprived by our sins be more worthily restored than was done on the Cross? Infinitely great are the honor and adoration offered to the triune God by the bloody self-immolation of the Saviour. God’s inviolable majesty and holiness are there displayed in the clearest light, inasmuch as to acknowledge and propitiate them, the unspeakably perfect humanity of Christ was offered, that is, destroyed and dissolved. By the voluntary surrender of His precious life to the death of the Cross, the God-Man offered infinite honor and glory to the Most High, in order to efface the insults and ignominies with which men had offended and continue to offend the divine Majesty.

b) With the guilt of sin punishment is inseparably connected: and as long as the guilt exists it deserves punishment. — Man laden with sin is a child of wrath (Eph. 2,3), subject to divine justice,—consequently, condemned to be punished for the sin committed in proportion to the guilt incurred, that is, to be humbled and afflicted. This punishment is either to be undergone (satispassio), or the remission of it may be obtained by satisfaction (satisfactio pro poena). — Satisfaction takes the place of the punishment to be undergone and remits it; the punishment must needs be compensated for by an equivalent voluntary service. Good works, in so far as they are painful and laborious, are most suitable to this end; for the voluntary performance of something hard and difficult is especially well adapted to supply the pain and humiliation inseparably connected with every punishment. — Now, inasmuch as in sacrifice the offering is destroyed and annihilated, sacrifice is most evidently endowed with the power of satisfying for punishment and is, therefore, most peculiarly fitted to supply for the punishment and merit its remission.

If we keep this in view, it will become evident to us why the punishment of sin, which weighs heavily on mankind, cannot be more perfectly compensated for and removed than by the propitiatory sacrifice of the Cross. What can be more painful and humiliating than to die on a cross between two thieves? There our Saviour, who is innocence and holiness itself, was immersed in a flood, in an abyss of pain and humiliation: a most bitter ocean of suffering raged around Him. From the soles of His feet to the crown of His head, His most pure body was but one wound; covered with blood, cruelly scourged and bruised, He hangs as a victim on the stake of the Cross. In this manner has He borne “our sorrows”; thus has He suffered and expiated what we had deserved and what we should have undergone.⁴³43It would be incorrect to say that Christ, the Innocent One, has been literally punished or chastised for us guilty men; for His sufferings and death were no satispassio, that is, an involuntary undergoing of the punishment inflicted, as for example, we say of the souls in purgatory, that they have sufficiently satisfied (satispatiuntur), but it was a real satisfactio pro poena, that is, a voluntary penance, undertaken and suffered out of pure love, which outweighed our punishment, and, consequently, obtained for us its full remission. In this sense have the words of the Prophet to be understood: “The chastisement of our peace was upon Him” (disciplina pacis nostrae super eum—Is. 53, 5).

Christ has, therefore, by His sacrifice on the Cross rendered satisfaction for us: this satisfaction has removed God’s displeasure, that is, it has effaced all the debt of sin—and satisfied all the requirements of divine justice, that is, it has delivered us from all the punishment of sin. The sacrificial death of Christ has once more reconciled us with God offended by sin, that is, it has effected this boon that we are no longer objects of the divine displeasure and wrath—and that God, on His part, is prepared to remit our debt and punishment. Thus we have, through the blood of the Saviour, redemption and remission of sins (Eph. 1, 7). “Jesus Christ has loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood” (Apoc. 1, 5). This was accomplished when Christ concluded peace and reconciled us to God by the cross, killing the enmities in Himself (Eph. 2, 15–16), that is, by the sacrifice of His life. Yes, “for when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Rom. 5, 10). And thus by the blood of the Cross it was brought about that all are united in peace in heaven and upon earth (Col. 1, 20).

4. In addition to and after our reconciliation, the other chief fruit of the tree of the Cross is our restoration to grace. The sacrificial death of Christ had not merely the character of atonement, it was, at the same time, in the highest degree meritorious.⁴⁴44To merit is to acquire by some act a right, a claim to recompense, that is, to a good which must in strict justice be given as a reward. While satisfaction (satisfactio) blots out and removes guilt, that is, acquires a claim to pardon, merit (meritum) imparts a right to reward. One and the same good work has, under different aspects indeed, both a satisfactory and a meritorious power (vis satisfactoria et meritoria). Christ by His death on the Cross obtained for us not only forgiveness of sins, but also superabundance of life (John 10, 10) and entrance into the sanctuary of heaven (Heb. 10, 19). He restored the kingdom of God, the supernatural order of grace. It is to the redeeming death of Christ that we owe all and every grace we receive from God—the grace of prayer, the vocation to the true faith, victory over temptations, conversion of the heart, the observance of the Commandments and final perseverance. To each of these graces there is attached, so to speak, a drop of the Precious Blood of Christ; for at the price of His blood has He purchased all graces for us—from the first enlightening of the understanding and the least moving of the will to the consummation of the glory of heaven. Christ has merited for us not only the plenitude of actual graces, but also sanctifying grace, the infused virtues, the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost, the heavenly transfiguration of soul and body,—in short, the whole glory of grace of the children of God, which here below is concealed, but which hereafter shall shine with unending brightness. The inexhaustible treasure of grace, the riches of heavenly blessings, the establishment of the Church and its endowment with all the gifts and means of salvation, are fruits that proceed from the tree of the Cross. Thus has God, through the merits of Christ, presented us with the greatest and most precious promises (2 Peter 1,4). Filled with holy joy and gratitude, the Prince of the Apostles thus exultingly exclaims: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us into a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead—unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that cannot fade, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1, 4).

5. By His atoning and meritorious sacrificial death, Christ rendered for us all that God, according to the rigor of His justice, required in order to bestow upon us remission of all the guilt of sin and its punishment, and favor us anew with His special benevolence and good pleasure, in consequence of which we are His children and heirs of heaven. — This salvation through Christ is frequently called redemption in Scripture⁴⁵45Redemptio, λύτρωσις, ἀπολύτρωσις, means loosening, freedom from sin and its consequences or from the slavery of the devil—and, in so far as is done by paying the ransom, means ransoming. (Cf. S. Thom. 3, q. 48, a. 4. — q. 49, a. 2.); there we read that we were purchased or ransomed by the blood of Christ. Regarded in this light, the merit and satisfaction of the Sacrifice of the Cross constitutes the ransom required by God and paid by Christ that we might be freed from the bondage of Satan. God accepted the ransom that Christ, from the superabundance of His love, offered for us, as a full payment for our enormous debt, and thus broke the chains of slavery in which we were groaning, and restored us again to the freedom of the children of God.⁴⁶46Per peccatum dupliciter homo obligatus erat: Primo quidem servitute peccati (John 8, 34.—2 Petr. 2, 19). Quia igitur diabolus hominem superaverat, inducendo eum ad peccatum, homo servituti diaboli addictus erat. — Secundo quantum ad reatum poenae, quo homo erat obligatus secundum Dei justitiam, et hoc est etiam servitus quaedam; ad servitutem enim pertinet, quod aliquis patiatur quod non vult, cum liberi hominis sit uti se ipso ut vult. Quia igitur passio Christi fuit sufficiens et superabundans satisfactio pro peccato et reatu poenae generis humani, ejus passio fuit quasi quoddam pretium, per quod liberati sumus ab utraque obligatione. Nam ipsa satisfactio, qua quis satisfacit sive pro se sive pro alio, pretium quoddam dicitur, quo se ipsum vel alium redimit a peccato et a poena (Dan. 4, 24). Christus autem satisfecit non quidem pecuniam dando aut aliquid hujus modi, sed dando id quod fuit maximum, se ipsum sc. pro nobis. Et ideo passio Christi dicitur esse nostra redemptio (S. Thomas 3, q. 48, a. 4). “That great dragon was cast out, the old serpent who seduceth the whole world” (Apoc. 12, 9); he had arrogated to himself dominion over fallen man, God permitting it as a just punishment for sin. The devil exercised his tyranny over men, inasmuch as he tormented and oppressed them by a thousand snares and temptations, by the fear of death and of the torments of hell. Then Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, (that is, sin and death) (1 John 3, 8), and to cast out the prince of this world (John 12, 30). By the Sacrifice of the Cross He vanquished and subjugated the prince of darkness; hence the apostle says: “Through death, He destroyed him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil,” and by His death “delivered them who, through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to slavery” (Heb. 2, 14–15). “If, when the Israelites went out of Egypt, the blood of the lamb became the restoration of freedom, and the day upon which the immolation of the victim disarmed the anger of the avenging Angel, became a great and holy feast, how much more should Christian nations rejoice, for whom the Almighty Father hath ‘spared not even His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all (Rom. 8, 32), that in the death of Christ we might have the true Pasch and the sole and peculiar sacrifice (singulare sacrificium), by which not one nation alone was delivered from the bondage of Pharaoh, but the entire world was snatched from the captivity of Satan.”⁴⁷47St. Leo, Ninth Discourse on the Lord’s Passion. — Christ’s dominion over Satan is beautifully expressed by the Church at the solemn Blessing of the Palms, when she prays as follows: “The Palms represent the coming triumph of the Lord over the prince of death; and the olive branches proclaim the advent of a spiritual unction. For that pious multitude (which went forth to meet the Redeemer) knew even then, that these things signified, that the Saviour, compassionating the miseries of all mankind, was to combat with the prince of death, and to triumph over him by His own death. Hence it was, that they offered Him such gifts (palm and olive branches) as would declare both the triumph of His victory and the riches (pinguedo) of His mercy. Therefore, the multitude go out to meet the Redeemer with flowers and palms, and pay worthy homage to the triumphant conqueror; the nations proclaim the Son of God with their tongues; and their voices rend the skies in praise of Christ: Hosanna in the highest!”

As Jesus Christ, “the Lion of the tribe of Juda” (Apoc. 5, 5), has conquered the powers of death and hell, He has also obtained for us the grace “to be strong and to overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2, 14), “and to be victorious over the dominion of death, so as to participate in the glorious resurrection with the Lord of life.”⁴⁸48Orat. in bened. Palm. Hence we praise the Lord who has visited His people and wrought their redemption, that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, may serve Him without fear, in holiness and justice all the days of our life (Luke 1, 68–75).

6. The whole work of redemption is an incomprehensible achievement of divine love and mercy. Do not the goodness and humanity of God shine most brightly therein? The Eternal Son of God descended from the kingdom of imperishable glory to our earth, in order here amid brambles and stones to seek the lost, weary, wounded sheep and lead them back to eternal bliss. With a heavenly self-sacrificing love He gave His life to refresh all that are weary and burdened, to soothe every sorrow, to pour oil and wine into every wound, to remove the sting of death and the terror of the grave—in a word, to free us from all evil and to bestow upon us every good. — This freedom from all suffering and this enjoyment of every happiness will not, of course, be granted to us here below, but in eternity, in the land of the living, where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and where death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow (Apoc. 21, 3–4); we shall fully partake of the blessing of redemption only beyond the grave. — By the Cross the Saviour redeemed us from sin and eternal misery, and with many hardships acquired for us all spiritual and heavenly blessings; hence, according to the wise dispensation of God, the earthly way of the Cross alone will lead us to the eternal full possession of all the gifts of redemption. Since it pleased God to perfect the Author of our salvation by His passion (Heb. 2, 10), and as Christ had to suffer and so to enter into His glory (Luke 24, 26), it is most proper and beneficial that we, too,—His ransomed ones—should enter into the kingdom of heaven through many tribulations. Remove sin, and the bitter waters of earthly sufferings are changed into sweet fountains of grace. To them who love God, all earthly woes serve as means of salvation and sanctification.

Christ’s passion and death have transformed sufferings and have cast a mellow light over the darkness of death and the grave; therefore, the Cross is the joy and sweetness of holy souls. In overflowing love they pray: “To suffer or to die!” — “Not to die, but to suffer!” — “To suffer and to be despised for Thee, O Lord!” Of those who willingly and cheerfully suffer, Blessed Henry Suso says: “I shall be silent on the consolations and heavenly inundations wherewith God often, unknown to men, supports His suffering friends. These persons are, I know not in what manner, as it were already in heaven; what happens or does not happen, what God does in all His creatures or does not do, is altogether to their advantage. Thus the man who knows well how to suffer, is partly recompensed even in time for his sufferings; for in all things he experiences peace and joy, and after death is rewarded with life eternal.”⁴⁹49Denifle, Die Schriften des sel. H. Seuse. — Vol. 1, Part 1, p. 138.

Behold the treasures, the riches and the glory of the fruits of grace, which have ripened on the tree of the Cross, that you may embrace and honor it with devotion and love as did the Blessed Henry Suso. “During the night of the eve of May, he usually began by planting a spiritual May-pole, daily paying it honor for a considerable time. Among all the beautiful branches that ever grew, he could find none more like the lovely May-pole than the bough of the holy Cross, which is more blooming with graces and virtues and more finely adorned than all other May-poles. Beneath this May-pole he made six prostrations; each prostration, with its accompanying meditation, formed a desire to deck the spiritual May-pole with the most beautiful productions of summer. He recited and sung from his inmost heart, before the May-pole, the hymn, ‘Salve, sancta crux’ in this manner: Hail, heavenly May-pole of Eternal Wisdom, upon which grew the Fruit of Eternal Salvation! At the first prostration, for Thy adornment, I offer red roses with my heart’s love this day; at the second, with tiny violets, I offer an humble bow; at the third, with delicate lilies, I offer a pure embrace; at the fourth, with all kinds of beautifully colored and bright flowers that ever the meadows or the woods or the trees or the lowlands or the fertile plains produced during this beautiful month of May, or that ever were or shall be in time to come, my heart presents to Thee a spiritual kiss; at the fifth, with all the gay, merry singing ever executed by the birds during a May-tour, my soul offers Thee unbounded praise; at the sixth, for all the grandeur wherewith a May-pole was ever adorned, I this day raise my heart to Thee, in spiritual song, and I pray Thee, blessed May-pole, that Thou wouldst assist me, so that during this short time I may praise Thee, that I may enjoy Thee, the Fruit of Life, for evermore!”