Do you get enthusiastic about talks and books about prosperity or do you willingly accept your daily cross, knowing that you follow Christ? - Daily Reflections September 14,2014

SEEK NOT PROSPERITY BUT TAKE UP THE CROSS

 

If non-Christians would hear the name of today’s feast, they would shake their heads in bewilderment. After all, the cross was the instrument the Romans used for the most shameful death they could inflict on a criminal. No Roman citizen, even the worst criminal, could be crucified. It was too shameful for a Roman.

       No wonder that in the first centuries, the Christians did not use the cross as the symbol of their religion. Once the practice of crucifixion had been abolished and Emperor Constantine had claimed that he won a victory with the sign of the cross, the shameful instrument became the sign of victory. After all, there on the cross, Jesus had defeated sin, Satan and death.

       Today, we find crucifixes not only in churches but also in the homes of Catholics. Many young people wear a cross around their necks, more often as a decoration than as a profession of faith in Christ crucified.

       In many churches, the Risen Christ dominates the assembly, a Christ without the cross. Of course, His resurrection is the foundation of our faith, but without the cross there would be no resurrection.

       In his very first homily after his election, Pope Francis said something very important: “When we journey without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we confess a Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord: we are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord. I would like for us all, after these days of grace, to have courage, precisely the courage, to walk in the Lord’s presence, with the cross of the Lord; to build the Church upon the blood of the Lord, which was poured out on the cross; and to confess the only glory there is: Christ crucified. And in this way the Church will go forward.”

       I pray that our preachers read and follow these words of the Holy Father so that they do not mislead the people but lead them in the way Christ proposes: through the Cross to eternal life and happiness. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you get enthusiastic about talks and books about prosperity or do you willingly accept your daily cross, knowing that you follow Christ?

 

Lord, the cross is uncomfortable, but You want us to follow Your example. For only by taking up the cross will we also taste the joy of the resurrection. Thank You for this reminder.