"We re-enact the Cross, as victims or as crucifiers, many times each day. When we gossip, spread rumours, slander or lie we are crucifiers. When we mock cruelly, strip others of their dignity, denigrate, humiliate or marginalize others on the basis of race or creed we are the soldiers who cast lots for the robe of the Crucified at the foot of his cross. When we sacrifice others in our stead, when we run away from ourselves, we are the soldiers piercing the sacred side. Every divorce court, every family or community, institution or multi-national corporation where dignity is denied is a Golgotha. For every human being there is a crucifier. And every human being can become a crucifier. The Cross shows how painful it is for human beings, individually and collectively, to accept the offer of love and to hear the truth about themselves. Resistance to love turns the heart to stone and dams up the river of compassion that heals humanity. In refusing to be pierced open the heart is frozen by the fear of dying and rising again. Such deep self-evasion in humanity is what makes sacrifice so painful."