Would you go to the cross for others?

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Im going to really look into their eyes more, so I can see Christ there, in those eyes

Many are touched, many cry, many start laughing, they are often like children…they are Gods children all of them, but are adults now, and are out there suffering much, with no home at all to go to, the sidewalk or the green grass their mattress.
 
Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen taught that there were only nurseries in heaven, since we must have faith like little children.
 
Can you see the child in this man? That he belongs to Christ and is loved?

Do you think he knows that?

Who is going to tell him?

Go to the cross, go to the cross, my brothers and sisters

There are so many ways to do it, as @po18guy has shown with his example of being a victim soul with his cancers

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The Shema (Dt 6:4ff) is repeated by Christ startiing at Mark 12:29. Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your Strength.”

The Jewish commentaries observe that this list is in increasing order of difficulty. It is relatively easy to feel a love of God in our heart. It is another big step up to be prepared to give up our life (soul) for our faith. Jesus adds the commitment of the mind, as a way, I suppose, of challenging each of his followers to live up to this command. The, the last, to love God with all our strength refers even to sacrificing all our earthly possessions. So, the Shema (“Hear”) is the daily “pledge of allegiance” of Jews to God and if possible the last utterance at the moment of death.

Surely, one doesn’t know for sure how to react in the situation, but we have a COMMAND as to how we should act. Is it commonly recognized for what it is? This topic is really about martyrdom, and we each should be preparted to recognize the situation and be ready to act on it, to be a martyr – a witness.

Confronted with the prospect of being drafted for the Vietnam War, I sought classification as a conscientious objector, arguing that I could not take an order to kill masses of innocent villagers, as occurred at My Lai and (reportedly) a thousand other locations. I had to stand up to to the draft board and let them know. I performed two years of alternate service in a hospital.

I know a school teacher who was approached by two students who happened to be Catholic members of her parish. Now, the job of a teacher is not counseling. But the girls insisted that this teacher help them to decide what course of action to take about their pregnancies. She told them that they should not get abortions. She was fired for standing up for the faith and the lives of the unborn. I told her in no uncertaiin terms that she was a saint.

Yes, indeed. We have to wonder what we will do when the time comes to profess our faith.
 
I experience a lot of joy when I help others.
I expect that it will be hard due to my physical disability, but I’m going to try.
 
Always remember though that God is not a lover of death, but of life. He came to destroy death with His death, and so in reality when we sacrifice or lose something wee don’t become nothing or put ourselves to death (at least not ultimately), but rather are given a share in Christ’s victory over death - we can always know how nothing is lost, and everything is gained in the end by God’s compensation and transformative victory over loss.

It’s almost like God telling us we will suffer in this life due to the Fall, and then quickly gives us a wink with a smile, to signify the divine trick that defeated suffering by suffering - a trick which fooled the devil by using his own weapeon (suffering and death) against him - and to encourage us with it.
 
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I like to think I would.
Definitely for my family I would.
Right now, I’m working as a nurse, but I don’t know if that counts, because I’m being paid. I’m not like Mother Theresa going out and finding sick people in the street totally on my own volition.
Then you hear of somebody pushing a little kid out of the way of an approaching car—that’s usually a split second decision.
 
DeSales111 said:
I think what I’m trying to say is that by going to the cross for others, it is going to the Cross for Christ.
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The former is not necessarily reducible to the latter. Suffering for others isn’t actually just suffering for Chist but not for others. Rather, it’s both, and even when it’s unconsciously so.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
DeSales111 said:
Maybe it’s because when I see Christ on the Cross I know it’s my fault and I want to be the one on the Cross because I’m the guilty one.
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I have a hunch He would react similar to when Peter tried to stop Him from going there. It’s not just that Christ died to save us as a ransom and so it’s somehow just utterly unjust (it is unjust that Christ was crucified as such since He is innocent, but it wasn’t unjust in the sense that there is no reason for His death at all) that Christ died to the point that He SHOULDN’T - rather, He died to destroy sin and death and suffering, including the cross, and to liberate both us and the cosmos forever.
DeSales111 said:
I often ask Christ to give me another person’s suffering, their cross. I may be selfish, a hypocrite, and a sinner, but just have an internal instinct to want to sacrifice myself for others… I deserve the cross and then some.
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Hey, no need to beat yourself up! You’re not the worst person in the world. God out of His love has given us the means whereby we can be freed from all of these rags. We may deserve nothing, but we’re worth everything to Him!
 
I am quite sensitive to the media that I consume, I get “flared up” quite easily. It took me some time to form the analogy but it’s like someone with a gluten allergy - they need to be careful of what they consume. Why don’t we consider media the same? Since what we mentally digest effects our minds (and some would argue the mind is more important than the stomach!). So then me having a “mental gluten allergy”; I avoid all social media, and stopped most TV shows and movies. My life is much better for it. These forums have been on the chopping block for a while.

But posts like this make me stay. What a wonderful and frightening question you put to me “Would you go to the cross for others?”. My deficiencies and weaknesses are brought out in Christ’s light. Lord, help me overcome my selfishness.
 
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Suffering for others doesn’t necessarily have to be great. Offering up smaller sacrifices or discomforts for others is in the same general category, and if practiced well enough it can make offering bigger sacrifices a bit easier as well.

There are several simple examples I can think of for this; taking a cold shower, putting itching powder on yourself for a while, eating a hot pepper, sitting in an uncomfortable position, patiently bearing an annoyance or frustrating situation without complaining, putting pebbles in your socks and shoes to walk in etc.

The most important thing though is not to be afraid. God doesn’t ask the impossible of us, His grace can strengthen us, and when we do suffer we don’t have to be poor of heart - we know that God will recompense us beyond what suffering took away from us, we know that God defeats suffering precisely by getting a greater good from it, and we know that in the end all our tears will be wiped away forever.

So take heart!
 
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