DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0286
268
THE CROSS.
success, she took her up to the child's bedroom — no
sooner had she opened the door a few inches than the
Jewess uttered a loud shriek, and rushed out of the
house, never ceasing to run till she had reached her
own, where she sobbed violently: she had caught sight
of the corner of the iron bedstead, and, without waiting
to see more, believed it to be a large iron cross hung
up for her special annoyance, the mere glance at which
would bring more fatal consequences to herself and
all belonging to her than the worst mal qcchio ever
seen ; there was no use in explaining it her — she would
never enter that house again. Perhaps this horror
and hatred of the cross explains why St. Paul, in
writing to the Hebrews, writes entirely of sacrifice, but
never once mentions the cross; and it accounts in some
degree at the present day, for the entirely unsuccessful
efforts of nearly all Eoman Catholics in the conversion
of the Jews.
Yet, however rejected and abhorred by the Jews,
let us never forget that it was through them that Cross
came to us by which all the world may receive salva-
tion; they were the good olive-tree on whose "root
and fatness " the wild olive and the Gentile were
grafted *; upon the Law given to them our Chris-
tianity was raised up, and the Jew was our school-
master to bring us to Christ; from their fall came the
riches of the world, and through their unbelief we have
obtained mercy, that through our mercy they may
obtain the same. What shall we say to those who gain
everything and give back nothing ? Ought it not rather
to be that from every " uttermost part of the earth"
something of our abundance should be gladly spared for
* Rom. xi.
THE CROSS.
success, she took her up to the child's bedroom — no
sooner had she opened the door a few inches than the
Jewess uttered a loud shriek, and rushed out of the
house, never ceasing to run till she had reached her
own, where she sobbed violently: she had caught sight
of the corner of the iron bedstead, and, without waiting
to see more, believed it to be a large iron cross hung
up for her special annoyance, the mere glance at which
would bring more fatal consequences to herself and
all belonging to her than the worst mal qcchio ever
seen ; there was no use in explaining it her — she would
never enter that house again. Perhaps this horror
and hatred of the cross explains why St. Paul, in
writing to the Hebrews, writes entirely of sacrifice, but
never once mentions the cross; and it accounts in some
degree at the present day, for the entirely unsuccessful
efforts of nearly all Eoman Catholics in the conversion
of the Jews.
Yet, however rejected and abhorred by the Jews,
let us never forget that it was through them that Cross
came to us by which all the world may receive salva-
tion; they were the good olive-tree on whose "root
and fatness " the wild olive and the Gentile were
grafted *; upon the Law given to them our Chris-
tianity was raised up, and the Jew was our school-
master to bring us to Christ; from their fall came the
riches of the world, and through their unbelief we have
obtained mercy, that through our mercy they may
obtain the same. What shall we say to those who gain
everything and give back nothing ? Ought it not rather
to be that from every " uttermost part of the earth"
something of our abundance should be gladly spared for
* Rom. xi.