Posted Thursday, September 2, 2010

Most of us remember the comments our mothers would say to us throughout our lives, especially those aphorisms they made when things—usually bad or unpleasant—happened to us.  These sayings were meant to console us, give us a new perspective, and help us to make sense of a particular situation. 

One such comment my mother would say over and over again is taken from today’s Gospel selection: carry your cross.  Usually we hear this phrase when things do not go according to plans, as though our hardships and burdens resemble the cross and its representation of the suffering of Jesus. We identify our difficulties and pain with that of Jesus’ saving act and are reminded with this phrase to imitate stoically what Jesus did by accepting the pain and discomfort of our lives and offer it up for a greater and noble purpose. 

In the context of the invitation of Jesus to become his disciples, the meaning of taking up one’s cross does not imply that we carry only our suffering but rather place our trust and hope in Jesus alone as the way that we live our lives—for better or for worse.  You will recall that Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem where he will undergo his suffering, death and resurrection.  Since the Gospels were composed years after this, the cross became the symbol of God’s saving love and his perpetual presence and aid to those who follow Jesus Christ.

The cross becomes the symbol of the saving act of God so that no one will ever feel abandoned, alone, helpless, or hopeless in this world.  Moreover, believers in Jesus as the Messiah are to take on the image of the meaning of the cross as a way of life and reflect that no matter what happens to us we have an inseparable bond with God.  Taking up one’s cross is as much a reflection of God’s love and God’s ways as it is a manifestation of belonging to God through the love of Jesus, one that calls us to reflect of its power as well as a way of manifesting our discipleship because we imitate the self-giving and singularly devoted love of Jesus.

Jesus calls his disciples to a new identity that is free of the earthly attachments that we accumulate and use to identify ourselves in this world; as disciples it is the cross—and all that it represents— that we use to remind ourselves of the connection we have with God that will liberate us from those things we use and limit us from freely following Jesus and participating in his saving work. The cross becomes the lens by which we see God, identify ourselves, and use to live each day.

When we sign ourselves at times of prayer we are reminded that we take up and put on the cross that has created a perpetual bond between heaven and earth, a reminder of who we are and what we will become by God’s grace and our adherence to God’s actions and ways.

Let us remember each other in prayer this week!  +Eric J. Knapp, S.J.