7381 Commemoration of the death of Jesus on the cross....

July 14, 1959: Book 78

Every walk to the cross of Christ means turning one's thoughts to Him, the divine redeemer, in remembrance of His immense suffering and pain and His agonizing death.... A realization that the man Jesus, in Whom God embodied Himself, had taken upon Himself the guilt of sin of the whole of humanity in order to atone for it.... that the human being who remembers Him is also one of the sinners for whom Jesus died, that he must also recognize and confess his guilt of sin before the one Whom he thus remembers.... to Whose cross he has taken his way. Again and again man should become aware of the great guilt which was the cause of the work of redemption.... of God's incarnation in Jesus and His death on the cross. And again and again the human being should remember that his guilt was redeemed but that he himself must also be willing to belong to the circle of the redeemed for whom Jesus' act of salvation was accomplished. His guilt was immense, so great that the human being himself could never have paid it off, for the being had rebelled against God, Whom it recognized as God and father and yet rose up against Him.... The being itself was unable to redeem this guilt and would have remained eternally distant from God if a human being had not taken pity on His fallen brothers, Who was completely without sin but wanted to suffer and die for His fellow human beings' sins out of love. The fallen brothers once lacked love, they renounced God's love and that was the great sin.... But that human being was full of love and gave this love to His fallen brothers, that is, He offered Himself to God for their guilt and God accepted this sacrifice. The sacrifice was not made by a being of light but by a weak human being Who was subject to the same laws as His fellow human beings and Who only mustered the strength through love for the act of mercy which was intended to redeem the guilt and free the beings' path to the father again. For 'love' was the strength itself, and the human being Jesus was so full of love that He wanted to accomplish the act of salvation and that God Himself was able to take abode in this human being, Who is eternal love Himself. And thus God Himself walked the path to the cross, He Himself carried humanity's burden of sin, He Himself died the most bitter death on the cross and thus brought redemption to people who were enslaved by sin, who want to be redeemed and also take the path to the cross in the will to return to God, who then also recognize and acknowledge God Himself in Jesus Christ and become free of their guilt of sin. But no person can speak of forgiveness of his guilt who is not willing to become free from his guilt and who therefore voluntarily takes the path to the cross.... thus calls upon Jesus Christ for help and mercy, for forgiveness of his guilt of sin. He has to be aware of the fact that he is separated from God as long as his original guilt has not yet been forgiven, which consisted of his voluntarily turning away from God and therefore has to voluntarily return to Him by acknowledging the father in Jesus Christ as redeemer of humanity and appealing to Him for forgiveness of guilt, which will also become his for the sake of Jesus Christ. For the act of salvation has been accomplished by God's immeasurable love, it has been accomplished for all people, but redemption must also be consciously requested.... The path to the cross must be travelled in full awareness of one's guilt and the firm will to be redeemed....

Amen

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