Reflection by Pat Bergen, CSJ
It would be a mistake to think of the crucifixion as a solitary event.
According to Teilhard de Chardin, the mass suffering of the world is formed of potential energy. In the suffering of the world, the ascending force of evolution is concealed in intense form. This causes suffering. Jesus did not bear the weight of the sin of the world, rather he bore the weight of an evolving world. Sin, for Teilhard, is a symptom of human passage to a higher consciousness.
The world would leap high toward God if all the sick together were to turn their pain into a common desire that the kingdom of God should come to rapid fruition through the conquest and organization of all of earth. All the sufferers of the earth joining their sufferings so that the world’s pain might become a great and unique act of consciousness, elevation, and union. ( from “The Significance and Positive Value of Suffering” quoted in Human Energy, Harper Collins and “U.S. Catholic Magazine”)
As we enter this Good Friday, pray that our global suffering be one with Christ, drawn into the Christic cauldron of his heart burning with desire that every part of Earth be transformed into a communion of Love. Would not this be the leap of consciousness to which humanity is called right now for the transformation of the world?