Letter to the friends of the Cross

 [1] Since the divine Cross has me hidden and forbids me to speak, it is not possible for me –and I do not wish to– to speak to you, to express to you the sentiments of my heart about the excellence of the Cross and the holy practices that allow you to unite in the adorable Cross of Jesus Christ.

However, today, the last day of my retreat, I come out, so to speak, from the enchantment of my interior, and trace on this paper some brief darts of the Cross, so that they pierce your blessed hearts. God would like to make them penetrating not with the ink of my pen, but with the blood of my veins. But alas, even if she were necessary, she is too criminal. Let the Spirit of the living God be the life, the strength and the essence of this letter. Let your holy anointing be your ink. Be my pen the divine Cross, and be the paper your hearts.

[I.– EXCELLENCE OF THE UNION OF

THE FRIENDS OF THE CROSS]

Friends of the Cross, you are deeply united, like so many other crucified soldiers, to fight the world (Gal 6:14). Do not flee from him, like the religious men and women, for fear of being defeated, but, like courageous and brave warriors, you advance on the battlefield, without taking a step back and without turning your back. Cheer up! Fight bravely! Unite strongly, and your unity of spirits and hearts will be infinitely stronger and more terrible against the world and hell, than the army of a well-united kingdom can be against the enemies of the State. If the demons unite to lose you, unite yourselves to scare them away. If the misers unite to traffic and earn gold and silver, unite your efforts to earn the eternal treasures, contained in the Cross. If the libertines unite to have fun,unite yourselves to suffer.

[TO. GREATNESS OF THE NAME OF FRIENDS OF THE CROSS]

[3] You call yourselves Friends of the Cross . What a great name! I love it and it dazzles me. It is brighter than the sun, higher than the heavens, more glorious and solemn than the most formidable titles of kings and emperors.

It is the sublime name of Jesus Christ, true God and true man at the same time. It is the unmistakable name of the Christian.

[4] But if its brilliance dazzles me, it is no less true that its weight frightens me. How many inexcusable and difficult obligations are enclosed in that name, as the Holy Spirit himself declares: "chosen lineage, royal priesthood, consecrated nation, acquired people" (1Pe 2,9).

A Friend of the Cross is a man chosen by God among the ten thousand who live according to sense and reason alone, to be a totally divine man, who goes beyond reason, and who is categorically opposed to mere sensible inclination. for a life and a light of pure faith and ardent love for the Cross.

A Friend of the Cross is an omnipotent king, he is a hero who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh in their three lusts (1Jn 2,16). By loving humiliations, he drives away the pride of Satan. By loving poverty, he overcomes the greed of the world. By loving pain, he kills the sensuality of the flesh.

A Friend of the Cross is a holy man separated from all that is visible, whose heart rises above all that is outdated and perishable, and whose conversation is in heaven (Phil 3:20). He passes through this land as a foreigner and a pilgrim, without being attached to it, with indifference, and treads on it with contempt.

A Friend of the Cross is an excellent conquest of Jesus Christ, crucified on Calvary, in union with his holy Mother. He is a Ben-Oni, son of pain, or a Benjamin, son of the right hand [or Bonaventure: Gen 35,8], born of his sorrowful heart, come into the world through his pierced side, and dressed in the purple of his blood. Marked by his bloody origin, he breathes only the cross, blood and death to the world, to the flesh and to  sin, and lives here below hidden in God through Jesus Christ (Rm 6,11; 1 Pe 2,24).

In short, a perfect Friend of the Cross is a true Christ-bearer, or rather, a Jesus Christ, who can say with all truth: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). .

[5] My dear Friends of the Cross, are you by your actions what your great name means? Or do you at least have an authentic desire and a true will to come to be, with the grace of God, in the shadow of the Cross of Calvary and Our Lady of Sorrows? Do you use the necessary means to achieve it? Have you entered the true path of life (Prov 6,23; 10,17; Jer 21,8), which is the narrow and thorny path of Calvary? Or is it that you walk, without realizing it, along the wide road of the world, which leads to perdition (Mt 7,13-14)? Do you already know that there is a way that seems straight and safe for man, but that leads to death (Prov 14,12)? [6] Do you know how to distinguish between the voice of God and his grace, and the voice of the world and of nature? Do you clearly hear the voice of God, our good Father, who,after three times cursing those who follow the desires of the world, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth!" (Rev 8:13), he calls you with all love, stretching out his arms, "Depart, my people!" (Num 16,21; Is 52,11; Ap 18,4), my chosen people, dear Friends of the Cross of my Son; separate yourselves from the worldly, who have been cursed by my Majesty, excommunicated by my Son (Jn 17,9), and condemned by my Holy Spirit (16,8-11)? Beware of sitting on his stinking chair! Don't go to their meetings! Do not go his ways (Ps 1,1)! Flee from the immense and infamous Babylon (Is 48,20; Jer 50,8; 51,6!9.45; Ap 18,4)! Do not listen to another voice or follow other footsteps than those of my beloved Son!He calls you with all love, stretching out his arms, "Depart, my people!" (Num 16,21; Is 52,11; Ap 18,4), my chosen people, dear Friends of the Cross of my Son; separate yourselves from the worldly, who have been cursed by my Majesty, excommunicated by my Son (Jn 17,9), and condemned by my Holy Spirit (16,8-11)? Beware of sitting on his stinking chair! Don't go to their meetings! Do not go his ways (Ps 1,1)! Flee from the immense and infamous Babylon (Is 48,20; Jer 50,8; 51,6!9.45; Ap 18,4)! Do not listen to another voice or follow other footsteps than those of my beloved Son!He calls you with all love, stretching out his arms, "Depart, my people!" (Num 16,21; Is 52,11; Ap 18,4), my chosen people, dear Friends of the Cross of my Son; separate yourselves from the worldly, who have been cursed by my Majesty, excommunicated by my Son (Jn 17,9), and condemned by my Holy Spirit (16,8-11)? Beware of sitting on his stinking chair! Don't go to their meetings! Do not go his ways (Ps 1,1)! Flee from the immense and infamous Babylon (Is 48,20; Jer 50,8; 51,6!9.45; Ap 18,4)! Do not listen to another voice or follow other footsteps than those of my beloved Son!And condemned by my Holy Spirit (16,8-11)? Beware of sitting on his stinking chair! Don't go to their meetings! Do not go his ways (Ps 1,1)! Flee from the immense and infamous Babylon (Is 48,20; Jer 50,8; 51,6!9.45; Ap 18,4)! Do not listen to another voice or follow other footsteps than those of my beloved Son!And condemned by my Holy Spirit (16,8-11)? Beware of sitting on his stinking chair! Don't go to their meetings! Do not go his ways (Ps 1,1)! Flee from the immense and infamous Babylon (Is 48,20; Jer 50,8; 51,6!9.45; Ap 18,4)! Do not listen to another voice or follow other footsteps than those of my beloved Son! I gave him to you to be your path, your truth, your life and your model: “listen to him” (Mt 17,5; 2Pe 1,17).

Do you listen to this kind Jesus? Loaded with his Cross, he shouts to you: «come after me» (Mt 4,19), and follow me, that «whoever follows me does not walk in darkness» (Jn 8,12)! "Courage! I have overcome the world" (16,33).

[B. THE TWO SIDES]

[7] Dear brothers, there you have the two sides with which we find ourselves daily: that of Jesus Christ and that of the world (Jn 15,19; 17,14.16).

On the right, that of our beloved Savior (Mt 25,33). Go up a path that, because of the corruption of the world, is narrower and narrower than ever. This good Master goes before, barefoot, his head crowned with thorns, his body completely covered in blood, and carrying a heavy Cross. Only a few people follow him, although they are the bravest, either because his soft voice is not heard in the midst of the tumult of the world, or because he lacks the necessary courage to follow him in his poverty, in his pains, in his humiliations and in his other crosses, which must be carried to serve him all the days of life (Lk 9,23).

[8] On the left (Mt 25,33), the side of the world or of the devil. It is the most numerous , and the most splendid and brilliant, at least in appearance. There runs all the most select in the world. They squeeze together, and that the roads are wide, and that they are wider than ever by the crowd that, like a torrent, runs through them.

They are strewn with flowers, full of pleasures and games, covered in gold and silver (7:13-14).

[9] On the right, the little flock (Lk 12,32) that follows Jesus Christ only knows of tears and penance, prayers and contempt of the world. Between sobs, one hears again and again: «Let us suffer, let us cry, let us fast, let us pray, let us hide, let us humiliate ourselves, let us impoverish ourselves, let us mortify ourselves (Jn 16,20). For he who does not have the spirit of Jesus Christ, who is a spirit of the cross, does not belong to Christ (Rm 8,9), since those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified their flesh with its lusts (Gal 5,24). Or we configure ourselves as a living image of Jesus Christ (Rm 8,29) or we condemn ourselves. Courage! they shout, courage! If God is for us, in us and before us, who can be against us? (8.31). He who is with us is stronger than he who is in the world (1Jn 4,4). The servant is not greater than his master (Jn 13,16; 15,20). An instant of light tribulation produces an eternal weight of glory (2Cor 4,17). The number of the elect is smaller than is thought (Mt 20,16). Only the brave and brave take heaven by force (Mt 11,12). Nobody will be crowned but the one who has legitimately fought  according to the Gospel (2Tim 2,5), and not according to the world. Let's fight, then, with all courage!"

These are some of the divine words with which the Friends of the Cross encourage each other.

[10] The worldlings, on the other hand, to encourage themselves to persevere in their unscrupulous malice, cry out every day: «Live, live! Peace Peace! Happiness happiness! Let's eat, drink, sing, dance, play! God is good, God has not created us to condemn us. God does not forbid amusements; we will not be condemned for that. Out of scruples! “You shall not die” (Gen 3:4)»! [11] Remember, my dear brothers, that our good Jesus is looking at you now, and he says to each one of you in particular: «You see that almost all the people abandon me on the royal road of the Cross. The idolaters, blinded, mock my Cross as madness; the Jews, in their obstinacy, are scandalized by her (1Cor 1,23), as if she were an object of horror; the heretics destroy it and throw it down as a contemptible thing. But - and I say it with tears and with a heart pierced with pain - my own children, nursed at my breasts and educated in my school, my own members that I have animated with my spirit, have abandoned and despised me, becoming enemies of my Cross (Is 1,2; Phil 3,18). "Do  you also want to leave?" (Jn 6,67). Do you also want to abandon me, fleeing from my Cross, like the worldlings, who are in this true antichrists?(1Jn 2,18)? Do you want to conform to the present century (Rom 12,2), despise the poverty of my Cross, to run after riches; avoid the pain of my Cross, to seek pleasures; Hate the humiliations of my Cross, to covet the honors? Apparently, I have many friends, who claim to love me, but who, deep down, hate me, because they do not love my Cross; I have many friends from my table, and  very few from my Cross» [ Imitation of Christ II, 11,1].