Take up his Cross

Last week Jesus told Peter that he was the rock on which he was going to build his Church. Today he calls him Satan. What happened? Last week Peter called Jesus the Christ, the anointed one; today he tries to discourage him from suffering and dying on the cross. Last week he was inspired by God; today he looks at things as we humans normally do. Jesus took advantage of this moment to talk about one of the most difficult paradoxes of our faith: to be happy we need to carry our cross. Nobody wants to hear about the cross, but Jesus is on the cross, and the cross is the symbol of our Christian life.

How can we explain this? That the cross is a blessing. This idea goes against the basic core of our present society: that is, seek pleasure at any cost. People kill themselves with drugs or alcohol; they destroy their families committing adultery; they gamble their wealth away; they compromise their body, eating too much or consuming food not good for them; they risk their lives driving too fast; they harm their health working too hard and later on they spend their money trying to fix it. And all of this for the sake of pleasure. We all want to be happy, but many times we look for happiness in the wrong places.

Saint John of the Cross once told his brother Francis a secret: “I will tell you something that happened to me with our Lord. We had a crucifix in the monastery, and one day, when I was standing before it, it seemed to me that it would be better placed in the church. I wanted it to be venerated not only by the friars but also by those outside. And I carried out this intention. When I had placed it in the church, I stood before it in prayer. Then Jesus said to me: ‘Brother John, ask me what you would like me to give to you for the service you have done to me.’ Then I said to him: Lord, I want from you sufferings which I might bear for you, and that I should be despised and accounted for nothing.” Not long afterwards he was taken prisoner against his will and locked in a small cell for nine months, with almost no food. From there we have the Saint we know.

While we look for pleasurable things, saints look for the cross. Why? Because they know that God is trying to bless them with the cross. Saints want at any cost to do what God wants them to do. And sometimes the will of God is hard for us. Why? Because He wants us to grow, to mature, to conform ourselves to the image of Christ. Parents know that for their kids to become better, many times they have to suffer. Suffering goes with human life; it is part of human existence. Pain is the other side of the coin of love. Who loves you makes you suffer. It comes from original sin. We either accept it and love it, or we rebel and become bitter.

Michael Angelo used to look at a block of marble and say: ‘I can see the statue inside; I am going to free it.’ Then he began to hit it with a hammer and a chisel. We are the same. The image of Christ is hidden in our nature. God can see it and He is trying to bring it out. But the process is painful. God has to chisel away many pieces that are not Jesus in our lives. Then he has to polish us and he normally uses people around us for his purposes. As long as we love the will of God, we let him do his work of sanctification.

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