The Calvary of Betharram (11)

In September 1916, Abbé Maupas celebrated the 300th anniversary of Calvary in the chapel of Betharram with a speech, the second part of which we now propose. It was in the middle of the First World War...

Look at the Cross in Jerusalem’s Calvary: a cross of pain, of humiliation, of shame, that seems to destroy the work of its victim by snatching away his last breath.

But the wonders are a sign that there is something different in this instrument of execution. The pharisees turn away beating their chest, and some days after the Cross is preached in the streets and squares of Jerusalem. Look at the Cross throughout three centuries of bloody persecution. It was hidden in the catacombs.  However, the number of its worshippers grew continually, and one day it would appear in the heavens in the eyes of Constantine who would give the Church the freedom to put it up in broad daylight and to teach it from the temples.

Heresy will try to keep in check its beauty by denying the truths of the faith of which the Cross is the summary and the symbol. But defended by the Church, she will be radiant in a more dazzling clarity. Religious divisions will try to disable it by violently separating Christians from their leader. The masses of believers will be saved from their clutches and the lost souls will yearn to come back, to be rested, in the heart of the Church, at the foot of the Cross. May they make themselves heard again, blasphemy, sarcasm of the beginning! Some will blush at the Cross and will desert it. But the Cross will again receive public and resounding allegiance of faith, of adoration, of love, like you give it today.

These external victories must not make us forget the triumphs brought by the Cross to the innermost thoughts of the soul.
Triumph over spirits which, after relying on their pride, were happy to desert the paths of error and come back to the lessons of the Cross.

Triumph over hearts, where a hatred of God and a contempt for good had accumulated into such decline that they seemed irreparable, and who surprised the world by the excess of their charity.

Triumph over despairing souls, who on the day of trial, of danger or of suffering, felt the need to turn towards the victim of Calvary to ask His forsaken love for the consolation, the strength that they needed, and the undying hope that they were once more hungry for.

Here is what this celebration says to you. It speaks to you about the victories of the Cross. It shows you the Cross upright, in every place, sometimes persecuted, but always leading souls to its light.

It says to you:
Christian, hope in the middle of suffering, mourning, separations.
Look at Calvary and higher than Calvary. Trials will bring you an eternity of glory, like Christ.
Christian, be strong in the fight. The divine crucified will not abandon you.
Christian, don’t let yourself be knocked down by the malice of men.
The cross is planted on a rock that the whole of Hell unleashed couldn’t shake.

Abbé Maupas
Diocesan Missionary