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The Hardest Cross to Carry
4 min
Gospel
Lk 14:25-33
Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them, “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace. So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Readings are taken from Dynamic Catholic’s Bible: RSV Catholic Edition.
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Transcript
The Hardest Cross to Carry
How expensive is your
Christianity? A faith that comes at no cost is no faith at all. One of Jesus' ongoing
messages throughout the gospel is, "This is difficult. This will be heartbreaking. This
will be painful. This is anything but the easy way." This Sunday, Jesus says, "Whoever
does not carry his own cross cannot be my disciple." Are you carrying your cross, or are
you dragging it along? Are you asking someone else to bear it for you? Are you always
looking for ways to take a break from carrying your cross? What is your cross? What
cross are you carrying at this time in your life? How is it similar or different to the
cross you carried last year, or five years ago, or 10 years ago? Who knows about the
cross you are carrying? Everyone who crosses your path, a select few? Or are you and
Jesus the only two that know about it? Do you complain about your cross? Do you think
other people have easier crosses to bear? The hardest cross to carry is the one you do
not recognize as a cross, a name as your cross. So whatever cross you are carrying at
this time in your life, claim it as your own. Name it as your own cross and talk to
Jesus today about what it is like to be carrying that cross.
This
conversation about your cross will change your life. Most of the time, I find I look at
my cross in all the wrong ways. Sometimes I look at my cross with a lazy heart.
Sometimes I look at my cross with a selfish heart. Sometimes I look at my cross with the
heart of a victim. Sometimes I look at my cross with a resentful heart. Sometimes I look
at my cross with a fickle heart, and often, I don't look at my cross at all. I look away
from my cross. I turn my heart away from my cross. And in the process, I turn my heart
away from God, and I turn my heart away from my truest self. When I talk to God about my
cross, He always leads me to see the one thing I never seem to consider, that the cross
isn't bad. The cross isn't wrong. It isn't a problem or the problem. He always reminds
me to see that he is not calling me to fix it, to change it, or to solve it. He's just
calling me to carry it. Until we see the cross as the solution to all our problems, we
have never really seen the cross for what it is.
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