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PelagiathePenit
Guest
We all have a cross to carry. What are examples of crosses we carry? Are stuck with them for life?
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nuntym
Guest
+JMJ+
As St. Pope John Paul II said:
“Take up his cross daily and follow me”. As the cross can be reduced to being an ornament, “to carry the cross” can become just a manner of speaking. In the teaching of Jesus, however, it does not imply the pre-eminence of mortification and denial. It does not refer primarily to the need to endure patiently the great and small tribulations of life, or, even less, to the exaltation of pain as a means of pleasing God. It is not suffering for its own sake that a Christian seeks, but love. When the cross is embraced it becomes a sign of love and of total self-giving. To carry it behind Christ means to be united with him in offering the greatest proof of love.
catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3411
That is, the daily cross is anything and everything in your life that can show to God how much you love Him. As Brother Lawrence said: “It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.”
St. Therese of Lisieux: “I do not have any other means to prove my love to you, but to throw flowers, that is to let no little sacrifice, no look, no word pass, to take advantage of all the littlest of things and to do them out of love… Hence, I pluck every flower I find on my way, for Jesus. And then as I strew my flowers before Him I desire to sing, although I have had to pluck them among thorns. And the sharper and longer the thorns, the sweeter is my song.”
As St. Pope John Paul II said:
“Take up his cross daily and follow me”. As the cross can be reduced to being an ornament, “to carry the cross” can become just a manner of speaking. In the teaching of Jesus, however, it does not imply the pre-eminence of mortification and denial. It does not refer primarily to the need to endure patiently the great and small tribulations of life, or, even less, to the exaltation of pain as a means of pleasing God. It is not suffering for its own sake that a Christian seeks, but love. When the cross is embraced it becomes a sign of love and of total self-giving. To carry it behind Christ means to be united with him in offering the greatest proof of love.
catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3411
That is, the daily cross is anything and everything in your life that can show to God how much you love Him. As Brother Lawrence said: “It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.”
St. Therese of Lisieux: “I do not have any other means to prove my love to you, but to throw flowers, that is to let no little sacrifice, no look, no word pass, to take advantage of all the littlest of things and to do them out of love… Hence, I pluck every flower I find on my way, for Jesus. And then as I strew my flowers before Him I desire to sing, although I have had to pluck them among thorns. And the sharper and longer the thorns, the sweeter is my song.”
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Upgrade25
Guest
PAGAN FISH WORSHIP! I’m kidding. Mine are temptations to impurity and disordered attractions. I believe that they will disappear someday, and free me up to a vocation. But if someone is crippled in war by a grenade and two of his best friends die, they will carry the pain and the memories to the deathbed, and that is a cross, without factoring in the sins that one may be tempted too.
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GEddie
Guest
Good answers. I would previously have said that it was “something that was killing you.” But it seems that it need to be quite that severe to be a cross.
ICXC NIKA
ICXC NIKA
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BobCatholic
Guest
Life is the cross.
Every day is Good Friday. No resurrection until the end.
Every day is Good Friday. No resurrection until the end.
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Gertabelle
Guest
A very, very long time ago, I read something that said that the cross is not something that we choose, though we can certainly choose to make certain sacrifices out of love of Our Lord and for the good of ourselves and others.
But the cross is something that finds us. When we feel repulsion over something that we must deal with, when we feel an overwhelming desire to flee, when we would be willing to do just about anything to not have to face or do something we must do – that is the cross!
Over the decades, I’ve noticed that definition of the cross can be applied to the full gamut of life experiences – from an interior struggle to a physical situation or condition.
This is just something I’ve considered over the years. I’m just an ordinary woman, not a theologian or anything.
But the cross is something that finds us. When we feel repulsion over something that we must deal with, when we feel an overwhelming desire to flee, when we would be willing to do just about anything to not have to face or do something we must do – that is the cross!
Over the decades, I’ve noticed that definition of the cross can be applied to the full gamut of life experiences – from an interior struggle to a physical situation or condition.
This is just something I’ve considered over the years. I’m just an ordinary woman, not a theologian or anything.
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PelagiathePenit
Guest
I would rather sacrifice things for God than be given a cross. Too scary. God does not give you more than you can handle. Trust in Him, Pelagia. If I only took my own advice
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Gertabelle
Guest
I think the sacrifices we choose are necessary because they strengthen us through self-discipline. They turn our minds and hearts away from attachment to the things of this world.
And you’ve already been given crosses, as has everyone else.
This may sound stupid, but one of The Most Challenging Things for me used to be when someone was being a rude and reckless driver. I watched them weave in and out of traffic, cut people off, not let others merge, etc., and I could feel my blood pressure rising.
I was in my car, and if my son’s wan’t there, you can betchya that there’d be some pretty colorful language coming out of the same mouth that received Our Precious Lord at mass. :sad_yes: :imsorry:Praying for that other driver was the absolute last thing on my mind. Forgiveness? Not way, not a chance. In that moment, acting as the Child of God that I am was the most impossible and alien concept on the planet. I wanted to be angry. I had a right to be angry because I was right. I wanted to curse the other driver. On a bad day, I might even feel tempted to wish the other driver ill!
In that moment, forgiveness and prayer – that was my cross, and it repulsed me. More and more frequently, I took up that cross and prayed and forgave. Then I prayed for all the drivers on the road, and all the passengers, and all of the pains and frustrations they were personally enduring… That ridiculous cross – brought on by my natural tendency toward road rage – eventually developed compassion and love and a spirit of prayer in me when I am driving!
And these little crosses can be just as horrible and difficult as the crosses that are so obvious to others – like major illnesses and injuries.
I guess my point is that you needn’t fear the repulsive cross that God will allow. You have already experienced them.
Keep fighting the good fight!
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