22nd Sunday of the Year
Readings: Jer 20:7-9; Rom 12:1-2; Mt 16:21-27.
We are all living in an age of illusions. Some select the illusion that appeals to them most and embrace it with passion in order to be happy. One such illusion is the notion that all pain and discomfort should be instantly eliminated, that only what is pleasant and easy is worth seeking. This notion is not just an illusion, but a lie. It is a lie with which our world may be obsessed as with a fairy tale, but St. Paul warns us that we “must not model ourselves on the behavior of the world around us” (Rom 12:2). Above all, this illusion is a lie which is an abomination to the Lord, for he said, “Take up your daily cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). The Lord asks us not to run away from crosses but to see them as opportunities to grow, by taking up our daily cross, by sacrificing ourselves for others and by making room in our lives for God’s ways.
The cross is a necessary part of life. There is no pain in dying, the pain is in living. We do not know whether to call it a dying life or a living death. Most of our comforts grow up between our crosses. If human life has its own necessary crosses, Christian life adds its own crosses. Leave out the cross, and you have killed the religion of Jesus. It is a cross to follow Christ, for in following him, we are expected to suffer rather than sin; it is a cross to reject the world’s sleazy way of life and live by God’s way. It is a cross to be faithful to the duties of one’s vocation, such as marriage, parenting, priesthood or religious life. Jeremiah went through torments to be faithful to his call to preach the world of God to the people. He found the cross of preaching so heavy that he once shouted at God saying: “O God, you have seduced me; you have made me a daily laughing stock, they all make fun of me” (Jer 20:7). Hence, the cross is not an arm of Christian truth; it is the heart of it.
Gospel promise is that the cross enriches life. As Christ says, “Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:25). Is not love sometimes enriched through shared suffering? Is it not a fact that sometimes success and comfort do endanger love more easily than pain and sacrifice? Yes, they do. We sometimes have to lose certain things in order to find better things. Great hearts are made by great troubles. What shakes us first, strengthens us afterwards. One has to bear his own cross in order to feel for those whose life is a cross. It is not a loss even to die, says Jesus, for it is only a lasting gain.
However, a cross is still a cross; it will be always a burden to human-nature. And yet, there is a way for a Christian still to love his cross instead of trying to get rid of it. Once a man wanted to get rid of his shadow, jumped into the water, ran in several directions but all in vain. His shadow continued to follow him. Then a wise man advised him: “It is very easy to get rid of your shadow. All you need to do is to go and stand in the shadow of a tree.” Likewise, if we want to get rid of our dislike for the cross, let us go as often as we can and stand in the shadow of the cross on which Christ was crucified for love of us. In the shadow of the cross of Christ, a Christian will learn that every trial has a triumph in it; within every suffering, there is hope and hence his cross is not a loss.
Great hearts are made by great troubles.
Readings: Jer 20:7-9; Rom 12:1-2; Mt 16:21-27.
We are all living in an age of illusions. Some select the illusion that appeals to them most and embrace it with passion in order to be happy. One such illusion is the notion that all pain and discomfort should be instantly eliminated, that only what is pleasant and easy is worth seeking. This notion is not just an illusion, but a lie. It is a lie with which our world may be obsessed as with a fairy tale, but St. Paul warns us that we “must not model ourselves on the behavior of the world around us” (Rom 12:2). Above all, this illusion is a lie which is an abomination to the Lord, for he said, “Take up your daily cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). The Lord asks us not to run away from crosses but to see them as opportunities to grow, by taking up our daily cross, by sacrificing ourselves for others and by making room in our lives for God’s ways.
The cross is a necessary part of life. There is no pain in dying, the pain is in living. We do not know whether to call it a dying life or a living death. Most of our comforts grow up between our crosses. If human life has its own necessary crosses, Christian life adds its own crosses. Leave out the cross, and you have killed the religion of Jesus. It is a cross to follow Christ, for in following him, we are expected to suffer rather than sin; it is a cross to reject the world’s sleazy way of life and live by God’s way. It is a cross to be faithful to the duties of one’s vocation, such as marriage, parenting, priesthood or religious life. Jeremiah went through torments to be faithful to his call to preach the world of God to the people. He found the cross of preaching so heavy that he once shouted at God saying: “O God, you have seduced me; you have made me a daily laughing stock, they all make fun of me” (Jer 20:7). Hence, the cross is not an arm of Christian truth; it is the heart of it.
Gospel promise is that the cross enriches life. As Christ says, “Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:25). Is not love sometimes enriched through shared suffering? Is it not a fact that sometimes success and comfort do endanger love more easily than pain and sacrifice? Yes, they do. We sometimes have to lose certain things in order to find better things. Great hearts are made by great troubles. What shakes us first, strengthens us afterwards. One has to bear his own cross in order to feel for those whose life is a cross. It is not a loss even to die, says Jesus, for it is only a lasting gain.
However, a cross is still a cross; it will be always a burden to human-nature. And yet, there is a way for a Christian still to love his cross instead of trying to get rid of it. Once a man wanted to get rid of his shadow, jumped into the water, ran in several directions but all in vain. His shadow continued to follow him. Then a wise man advised him: “It is very easy to get rid of your shadow. All you need to do is to go and stand in the shadow of a tree.” Likewise, if we want to get rid of our dislike for the cross, let us go as often as we can and stand in the shadow of the cross on which Christ was crucified for love of us. In the shadow of the cross of Christ, a Christian will learn that every trial has a triumph in it; within every suffering, there is hope and hence his cross is not a loss.
Great hearts are made by great troubles.
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