Part of this reflection has been based from the book "Called to be Witnesses."
For Comboni, the Cross provided a mystical experience. The Cross was a friend, light and support, his precious companion, gentle, comfort, treasure, sweet burden, inseparable and eternal spouse.
He had a mystical marriage with the Cross, and he was aware that without the Cross, missionary work is not effective. We must go through the 'Crucible of the Cross.' Comboni admitted that God has made for him a road that of the Cross. The Cross is the wisdom for Comboni, for he believed that it is not possible to serve a crucified people without being crucified with them. I have seen in fact, the greatest challenge of carrying our own crosses walking through unforeseeable future, to go where the Lord would bring us.
In his deep emotional pain, Comboni said: "I thank God for all the crosses. My life is an ocean of worries brought on me by those who are good and who love me." Worn-out, overburdened and exhausted, with constant attack of fever, he wrote: "The Cross is the royal road which must be travelled by those who want to arrive at the triumph." This is precisely the way of offering our lives to God, reduced by our own human powerlessness so that all might come from His strength.
I see very much where our souls are being led- into complete uncertainty, confirming faith of the Church, sometimes in hidden witnessing, engaging into the Church of martyrs. We just have to be happy and faithful, for our offering, as vowed for mission is truly an authentic sign to our society.
With the conviction that God's works grow where he sends the Cross, Comboni kissed the Cross and pressed it into his heart: "Only the Cross has the strength to work miracles."
In the spirit of our founder and in deep veneration of the Holy Cross, let us give our thanksgiving and love as we also kiss the Cross.
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