Deacon Larry

  August 31, 2008

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jer 20: 7-9; Rom 12: 1-2; Mt 16: 21-27

Dc. Larry Brockman

Believe it!  “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up their cross, and follow me”.  Whoever- that’s you and I, not just Jesus and his disciples some 2000 years ago, but you and I, right here and now. 

For most people, the name of the game is to avoid the cross.  People will go out of their way to avoid pain, confrontation, suffering, and taking a stand that makes them unpopular.  Possibly because they don’t recognize that it is their cross. 

Jeremiah is a good example of a person who recognized his cross.  His cross was to bear witness to the Word of God- to be a prophet.  But he didn’t want to do it, because his prophecy was not popular.   It frightened and threatened the establishment.  And so, he had to shout it out, over the protests of his people.  Jeremiah knew he would be abused if he spoke up.  But, Jeremiah could feel the urging of the Lord.  It was a strong urge, one that kept haunting him.  And so, he embraced his cross, and spoke up anyway.  We find out later that he was thrown into a cistern- a well, and abandoned to die.  So, suffer he did before he was finally rescued by the king.   

Now I know that all of you want to follow Jesus.  But what exactly can you and I do about your crosses?  Well, first, recognize your cross.  Then, embrace it, don’t run away from it.  Clearly, the word “cross” here is a symbol.  It doesn’t mean being dragged up a hillside and hung on a physical cross.  It does mean many other things, among which are:  Following God’s will for you, not your own desires; or being satisfied with the life you’ve been give, and not being bitter that you don’t have another kind of life.   

If your cross is something the Lord is calling you to do- like Jeremiah was called to be a prophet, don’t keep putting it aside and avoiding it.  We have Paul’s advice from the second reading:  “Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by renewal of your mind”.  Yes, when you become committed to Jesus, and you sincerely want to follow after him, he will renew your mind, through His Spirit, and you will be given the gifts of the Spirit- things like strength, and understanding- to help you through whatever you are being called to do.  But you have to recognize that you are being called, and not run away from it. 

Perhaps, you have been called to speak up about a wrong, or to come to the aid of someone in need, or follow a nudge to a different vocation.  Whatever that call is, it is that voice in you that, try as you may, you can’t ignore, just as Jeremiah couldn’t ignore it.   

Another cross you might be called to embrace is forbearance.  I think this is a cross most of us have at one or more times during our lives, because it includes sickness, disability, demands from our loved ones, mental suffering- anything that stops us cold.  Stops us cold from our agenda, and forces us to submit, or to forbear the challenges of life.  These crosses are made more difficult when others tell us we can avoid them,  The voices of others take many forms- like you did something wrong to cause this; or you can take the easy way out; or it’s not your responsibility.  But sometimes, these crosses are just the way it is.  They are the life dealt to us.  The great St. Augustine said something very insightful:  “There is more courage in a man who faces rather than flees the storms of life, and who holds cheap the opinions of men”.  Courage is what the Spirit gives us to face these crosses in our lives- courage to forbear these kinds of crosses. 

Finally, our perspective on life can play a big role in how well we look at crosses.  If your perspective is that life can always be managed to produce happiness, then these crosses cause bitterness and disappointment.  But uninterrupted joy is reserved for Heaven.  The road to heaven is paved with crosses, just as it was for Jesus.  In the words of St. Margaret Mary:  “Nothing unites us so closely to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, as the cross, which is the most precious pledge of His love”. 

This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 8:12 pm and is filed under Westminster Tower. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.