I was surfing the web and came across the Palm Sunday Message that Pope Benedict XVI delivered from the Vatican. Though I'm not a complete fan of this particular pope, I very much liked what he had to say in this message about the cross being a symbol of poverty, peace, and universality. Here are a few quotes from his homily:

"If we want to go out to encounter Jesus and then walk with him on his way, we must ask: On what path does he wish to guide us? What do we expect from him? What does he expect from us?...

First, he says he will be a king of the poor, a poor man among the poor and for the poor... One can be materially poor but have a heart full of anxiety for wealth and power, which comes from wealth. The fact that one lives in envy and avarice shows that, in one's heart, one is part of the rich... Poverty in Jesus' sense -- in the prophets' sense -- presupposes above all interior freedom from avarice and the will to power.

Second, the prophet shows us that this king will be a king of peace... The new weapon Jesus puts in our hands is the cross, sign of reconciliation, of love that is stronger than death. Every time we make the sign of the cross, we must remember not to respond to an injustice with more injustice, to violence with more violence; we must remember that we can only overcome evil with good, without returning evil for evil.

The prophet's third affirmation is the pre-announcement of universality: The kingdom of the king of peace extends "from sea to sea -- to the ends of the earth." He comes to all cultures and to all parts of the world, everywhere, to the miserable huts and poor peoples, as well as to the splendor of cathedrals."


Good stuff! You can read the entire transcript of the Pope's sermon here.

Labels: social justice, theology