A Cross to Bear

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me" -Luke 9:23

These were the words in the Gospel yesterday that had me sitting in mass thinking and praying for a while. We've probably heard the saying before, 'to take up our cross' but what does that even mean? Do we have to carry the big wooden cross just like Jesus did on the day of His death? While it may seem it at times, that's not quite what Jesus had in mind when He told us these words in Luke 9:23.

We were all given some sort of cross to bear; it may be physical with a sickness, emotional with a suffering, or anything inbetween. Each one of us was given a specific cross to bear, but like both my mom and my grandma used to always say, God doesn't give us anything more than we can handle.

A couple of months ago I discovered that I have a gluten intolerance, which means that I can't eat anything with wheat, grains, or gluten in it. While it isn't an uncommon thing for people to have today, it doesn't make the frustration any less. At first I was mad and even scared; not only would I have to completely change my diet, but I didn't think that I would be able to handle this new-found cross that God had given me. I was troubled for a good month about this, when I finally when to St. Marys Church down the road from school to go and talk to the priest there. Father told me that indeed God doesn't give us a cross that we can't handle, but that doesn't mean that they won't be tough. He then told me something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

He said to think of the saints, especially Maria Goretti. (She was 12 years old when she was stabbed to death by her neighbor because she wouldn't committ sin with him.) Her cross that God gave her to bear was her early death, and she never hesitated when the time came to go against God in order to save her life. Her act of martyrdom was not for her, but for others. Father then told me to take the cross that I was given, and offer it up for others, specifically someone who maybe isn't able to fully understand or handle their own cross because it is so much bigger than my own. Have my cross take a part of someone else's cross off of their shoulders, so they can better bear their own.

My cross may be big to me, but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't the worst cross that I would have to bear. God knows why He gave me this cross, and while I don't know now, or may not ever know, I still need to bear it, but I need to bear it in the name of Jesus. So if you are having a hard time bearing your own cross there are a couple of things that you can do about it:

1. Pray about it: Anything that we do, whether it is making a decision, giving thanks, or asking for help, we should always pray about it by interceding with our Blessed Mother and the saints, or even straight to God and Jesus.
2. Offer it up: This may seem hard, especially because when we are miserable, we like to focus on ourselves and how miserable we are, or that we think we are. Take a moment every day, or when it gets really hard to bear the cross and think about your cross in perspective to the world. Then, offer it up for someone, whether you know someone specifically or not, who does have a much more difficult cross to bear. Have your cross take part of theirs off of them.
3. Talk to a priest: If you are still really struggling with the thought of bearing your cross, go and talk to someone, especially a priest. They are always willing to be there and listen and will give some great advice.

In order to follow Christ, we must take up our cross daily and follow Him. It may be hard at times, and most days we won't want to face our cross head on, but Christ bore the biggest cross of them all, where He died on the actual cross in order to save us from our sin. If Jesus had the ultimate cross to bear, what's not to say that we can't bear our own personal cross everyday?

Luke 9:23