Lent Day 2 - Take Up Your Cross

Jesus said to his disciples:

"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected

by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised."

Then he said to all,

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world

yet lose or forfeit himself?"

It is not a question of whether or not we are going to have to carry a cross in life, no that is not the question at all.  The question is s how are we going to react to the cross or crosses we are given to carry? No man or woman has gone through life without a cross to bear. In this world that we live in a cross, pain and suffering are things to be avoided at all costs. Mind you, I am not a person who would volunteer to wear a hair shirt, or put rocks in my shoes, or kneel on rock salt while saying my prayers. But I can see the value in suffering if it comes to us.  All too often we waste the pain and outrages that happen in life.  We do not have to go looking for suffering, but when it comes we should not waste it.  We should offer it up to God in reparation for our sins and the sins of others. Jesus tells us that if we reject the crosses we are given, we only win in the short term.  

Taking up our crosses can take many different forms.  Matthew Kelly gives this illustration.  You open the refrigerator and see the last can of soda.  Your body says, "Yes, Yes! Grab it, I want that." To discipline your body you tell it, "No. We will have water."  This saying "no" to yourself is a good way to discipline yourself.  This is a cross that you pick up voluntarily.  

But what about those crosses that come unbidden?  What do we do about those?  You receive a diagnosis of a chronic, life-changing disease, or you watch a loved one in great suffering but you are unable to do anything for them, what do we do about these crosses? We accept them of course.  We do as St. Paul tells us to do and we join them to the sufferings of Jesus on the cross.  We bear what we can bear patiently and ask the Lord to help us to bear what we seemingly cannot.  Suffering of any sort reminds us that we are but a creature and allows us to rely on God for the strength to come through it all.  We remember, we have a God that has been through great and tragic suffering.  Jesus, in his early life, suffered the death of his father Joseph.  He consoled his mother on her loss.  Jesus felt the pain of betrayal when Judas Iscariot gave him up in the garden and again when Peter denied Him.  Jesus suffered a brutal beating at the hands of the Romans and was nailed to a cross and felt the loneliness of death.  He has been there and he defeated all of these things including death. 

Finally, remember that Jesus will help you bear any cross that is given to you. Be open to the help he sends through others.  Be patient and know that He is God.