Bear Patiently the Cross

"Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”

(Hymn “Be Still, My Soul”, Text: Psalm 46:10)

“He has preceded you in carrying His Cross. He died for you upon the Cross so that you may also bear your cross and desire to die on the Cross…Arrange everything as you please, as it seems best to you, but you will always find something you will have to suffer, either willingly or unwillingly. You will always find the Cross.”

(“The Imitation of Christ”, Thomas a Kempis, p. 122)

What is your cross?

I know that I do not have to look far to see my crosses. I’m sure after a few moments of consideration, you can think of yours, too. I don’t say this today to depress you, but, quite the opposite. In fact, if you wish to be a disciple of Christ and follow him, it would probably do you well to consider your cross.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me’.” (Mt 16:24)

So, it seems, the first condition of discipleship is to deny yourself and take up your cross. For some of us, our crosses are small. We may have little annoyances that prevent us from thinking of ourselves first, like St. Paul had (see 2 Cor 12:7). These crosses are a great grace. For, as in Paul’s case, they keep us from becoming conceited, proud, or full of ourselves. In essence, these crosses allow us to deny ourselves more easily. Though, it may be difficult to dismiss these as “small” crosses, since in the moment they feel quite large.

Others are given larger crosses, ones that take great patience, humility, and perseverance to bear. These may include various illnesses, injustices, addictions, persecutions, and things that we can’t even imagine living our relatively comfortable lifestyles. In these situations, we must rely on our faith and trust in God that it is through uniting our cross with Christ’s, we are made more like him, and therefore truly living like his disciple.

If you find this hard to accept, and just can’t wrap your head around the meaning of suffering, consider this:

“Our Lord Jesus Christ himself was not without suffering even for one hour of his life: ‘Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day (Lk 24:46)’, and so enter into his glory. Why do you seek any other way than this royal road, the road of the Holy Cross? The whole life of Christ was a cross and martyrdom, and you seek rest and happiness?”

(“The Imitation of Christ”, Thomas a Kempis, p. 124)

Now, we all seek rest and happiness. Rest assured, you will find this if you seek God alone. However, Christ has physically shown us that the way of suffering and the cross is The Way. This is no easy task, but it seems clear by Christ’s words and actions what he intends for us: to become like Him. Also, as mentioned above, no matter how we try to arrange our daily lives and situations to make them as comfortable as possible for us, it seems a truth of this world is that suffering and tribulation wait around every corner, no matter how big or small.

So, I invite you to bear your crosses patiently. Leave to your God to order and provide everything. And I will pray for you that you will have the strength to endure, and trust that God will bring you exactly where you need to be, in order to be closer to Him. For through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.