The Challenge of Curcifixion

Christ has said that those who want to win heaven must deny themselves, must take up their cross daily and follow Him. This following of Christ - where does it lead? it leads to a crucifixion that can sanctify us very quickly and enable us to help others on the way to salvation. Pius XII has said very strongly "... we (the faithful) must undergo with Christ a mystical death on the cross so that we can apply to ourselves the words of St. Paul - 'With Christ I am nailed to the cross.'"
This crucifixion is not a station of the cross to be merely looked at or meditated upon - it mus be experiences. We know well enough what crucifixion meant for Christ. What can it be for us in this modern civilization? In this day and age if can mean that, believing in God's love, we allow ourselves to be willingly placed by providence in an arranged situation or trial, where we are as unable to help or defend ourselves or to remedy the situation as Christ allowed Himself to be on the cross. It can be having our heart broken, letting our own will and its plans vanish, so that it can be remade into a likeness of Christ's own Heart, through which life and love flow.
This rules out self-determination, the modern defense mechanism against God's persistent pursuit of us. If we are to be guided by the Holy Spirit we must present Him with a person willing to be guided. This is hard to come by unless we receive the grace necessary to humble ourselves to a real experience of our very nothingness.
Christ's victory of redemption was accomplished in most part by His passion in the garden. He had allowed Himself to be placed in such a situation that the psychological pressure an His human soul to adhere to His own divine Will was beyond our imaginings. This type of suffering can be ours in varying degrees. If the terminal work of our purification, usually reserved for Purgatory, is applied to us in this life, it can lead to a very potent encounter with Christ and strongly point us to the heights. To attain such a reorientation in such a relatively short time requires a special set-up. We are put under the extreme pressure of adverse circumstances specifically designed to make us accept freely what is happening to us. It can be a real wound of crucifixion. The process is somewhat similar to pressure applied to a glued wood joint, over a period of time, to form a solid bond. The suffering entailed can be so penetrating that it seems to destroy us, yet it an be the short cut that leads to His presence and ability to do redemptive work. When die pressure is removed you may be in the region of beginning contemplation.
St. Paul's conversion shows what can happen when there is full cooperation with grace - when God speaks to the soul in unmistakable accents, with a proper response. Before his conversion his spiritual activity was simply tremendous, but he was doing no supernatural work - in fact he was destroying God's work. During those few moments of God's special action he was almost inert physically, but his will's acceptance of God's desires was such a concatenation of grace that he was thoroughly reoriented. If he had qualified his acceptance by distracting thoughts about his future, the result would have been impaired. Note that he accepted the situation as it was presented and gave God full permission to act. This incident in his life merits deep study.
Let us now conjecture what might happen if a person were, in God's providence to cooperate with grace and desire to give himself very generously to the work of saving souls. (A total gift of self, a deep commitment in fully embracing God's will.) We have said that supernatural activity over a period of time is supernatural work, that is, it has supernatural value.His lifetime would provide a definite supernatural result. If God took hi at his word, He could arrange to have him produce this lifetime output in a few years. The remaining years would then be at an increased output which could be applied to others.Of course, the process would entail suffering - crucifixion probably - because the whole personality would be changed. (See what a different man Paul was from Saul.)
He wold probably be very conscious of God's power working in him, the psychological pressures effecting their end. With victory would come Christ's mind as his own. The great end result could be that he would be enabled to love God so much, do His will so perfectly, be so completely His instrument as a channel of grace that divine providential love would be able freely to flow over the whole world and so neutralize the prevalent hate and evil; that other persons would be affected by the leaven so such an extent that the Heart of Christ would be consoled an He would have pity on us poor sinners.