Taking Up Our Cross

I think it is safe to say that most people, if not all, have experienced some sort of challenge or difficulty in their lives.  For us Christians, we may call them "crosses."  Each person's cross(es) is different.  It is so because each person is unique and is different from the next.  In the Gospel, Jesus shares with His disciples the conditions of discipleship: denying oneself, taking up our cross daily, and follow Him.  Our Lord told His disciples that they must take up their cross daily.

Our crosses do not define us. Rather, what we do about them and how we carry them may.  Jesus asked them to take up their crosses daily.  But He didn't say they'd be doing it by themselves.  The last condition after taking up our cross daily is to follow Him.  In following Him, He will be our strength.  And when He sat down with His Apostles and broke bread at the Last Supper, He became our nourishment.  After laying down His life for us on the Cross, He descended into Hell, broke through the gates of Hell, rose from the dead, and won for us our salvation.  Following His Resurrection He encouraged His disciples.  And when He ascended to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to remain with us.  Yes, our crosses may be our own, and we must first take them up ourselves, but Our Lord carries it with us.

When we can come to see this and believe this, we will come to not simply take up and carry our cross, but we will embrace it because we know that Our Lord is right there with us. Our Lord has made our cross His cross. So let us take up our cross and embrace it, fully confident in Our Lord's promise to stay by our side. For then our cross will cease to be a burden and will rather become a blessing.

Father, grant me the courage to take up my cross and the grace to embrace it knowing that You are right here with me, cheering me on and walking right next to me.
Way to Calvary by Andrea di Bartolo



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