At that time Jesus said to them: "The Son of man will have to suffer a lot, and he will be rejected by the elders, by the chief priests and by the teachers of the Law. They will kill him, but on the third day he will be resurrected. " Then he said to all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple, forget about himself, carry his cross every day and follow me. Because whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but he who loses his life for my sake will save it. What is the use of man to win the whole world, if he loses or destroys himself? ... "Luke 9,22-25
Following Jesus implies following his example, his way of life. But following him has a price, it is not a simple way. The
He did not promise us something easy and immediate, instead, every day we suffer the temptation of "other false gods" that show us an easier way, without thinking about consequences, simply thinking about ourselves and our needs. To follow him, we have to carry our crosses, we can not leave them abandoned next to the
path.
The cross is the symbol of Christians. The cross symbolizes what we carry on our shoulders: our fears, our weaknesses, our doubts ... Something that weighs on our day to day.
There are many things that we are carrying. And each time they weigh more, the road becomes harder. We have to be strong to identify them and release them in moments of inner peace. But at the same time, the cross is hope, it is life. Of all these weaknesses, strength is born, the commitment to a new world, built between all and all,
reborn from all our crosses.
Hope will come from our crosses, they will be the seed of a new dawn.
What are my crosses? With what charge day by day? Sit, find a quiet place and think about your crosses, where you have identified and where you do not. Think about how they are in your life, how you carry them, which are the ones that cost you the most, the ones that weigh the most. Do we resign ourselves and carry them or do we carry them with joy?
Lord, give us strength to continue the journey, to walk with faith and joy. That fatigue does not overcome us and we let ourselves be taken by easier but less compromised shortcuts and in which we do not take others into account. Help us to see every stone in the path with joy, every opportunity to improve.