The Good And The Cross

Nec ideo ista non aliquid boni significasse quis dixerit, quia per malos facta sunt, non scilicet per eos qui Christum secuti, sed qui persecuti. Quid enim de ipsa cruce dicturi sumus, quae certe similiter ab inimicis atque impiis Christo facta et impacta est? Et tamen ea significari recte intelligitur quod ait Apostolus, Quae sit latitudo, et longitudo, et altitudo, et profundum. Lata est quippe in transverso ligno, quo extenduntur pendentis manus: et significat opera bona, in latitudine charitatis: longa est a transverso ligno usque ad terram, ubi dorsum pedesque figuntur; et significat perseverantiam in longitudine temporis usque in finem: alta est in cacumine, quo transversum lignum sursum versus exceditur;et significat supernum finem, quo cuncta opera referuntur; quoniam cuncta quae latitudine ac longitudine bene ac perseveranter fiunt, propter altitudinem divinorum facienda sunt praemiorum: profunda est in ea parte qua in terra figitur; ibi quippe et occulta est, nec videri potest, sed cuncta eius apparentia et eminentia inde consurgunt; sicut bona nostra de profunditate gratiae Dei, quae comprehendi ac dijudicari non potest, universa procedunt. Sed etsi crux Christi hoc solum significet quod ait Apostolus, Qui autem Jesu Christi sunt, carnem suam crucifixerunt cum passionibus et concupiscentiis, quam magnum bonum est. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, In Evangelium Joannis, Tractatus CXVIII Source: Migne PL 35 1949-1950

Thus let it not be said that a thing had no good meaning because it was done by the bad, that is, that it was done not by those who followed Christ, but by those who persecuted. What indeed could we say of the cross itself, which evidently was in like manner made and fastened to Christ by enemies and the impious? And yet by it we may rightly understand the meaning of the words of the Apostle who said, 'what is the breadth, and the length, and the height, and the depth.' 1 Since the breadth lies in the transverse wood, on which the hands are extended; and it signifies good works in the breadth of charity: its length is from the transverse wood to the ground, where the back and feet are fixed, and it signifies perseverance through the length of time even to the end. The height is in the summit, which rises upwards beyond the transverse wood; and it signifies the supernal end, to which all works refer, since all things done well in respect of their breadth and length, and perseveringly, are to be done on account of the summit of the Divine rewards. Depth is in the part that is fixed in the earth; there where it is concealed and unable to be seen, but from there all the evident and eminent rises up, just as all our good proceeds from the profundity of the grace of God, which is not able to be comprehended or judged. And even if the cross of Christ meant only what was said by the Apostle, when he wrote, 'They who are Jesus Christ's have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires,' 2 how great a good it is. Saint Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John, from Tractate 118  1 Ephes 3.18  2 Galat 5.24