Notes from this Episode

Background

• This episode was published on Holy Thursday, but the Cross does not end on Holy Thursday or Good Friday.
• We have crosses throughout our lives, and I would like to focus as we contemplate Jesus taking up his cross, why he did it, and with what tremendous love he did it.

Finding Our Crosses

• We often imagine our cross to be something other than what it actually is. 
  • We do not imagine that it will ever be our husbands or children.  They are not “supposed” to be our crosses.
  • Yet, for the majority of us, that is exactly where we will find our cross.
• Sometimes we do not see our husbands as a cross, but rather as moments of annoyance, disrespect, or infidelity, but when we reframe those moments as crosses, they take on a supernatural meaning, rather than a source of pain.
• These crosses can also be a source of holiness and sanctification.
  • In the ways we respond to these crosses, with the interior disposition of self-giving, self-sacrifice, and hope, we are both transformed in virtue and holiness.

The Least Expected Cross

• Our cross is never one that we expect, and we often resist it, but if we stop resisting and embrace the crosses we are given, we can carry them with faith, hope, and love.
• Who would have thought our children could be a cross for us?
  • Sometimes our children are born with serious issues and loving them can be harder than we ever thought it could be.
• The day-in and day-out of parenting our children can also be a cross.

Look to Mary

• Do you want to know how to carry your cross?  Look to Jesus’ mother: she knew she was raising the Redeemer and that it would mean suffering (both his and hers), and yet there she was, at the foot of the Cross.
• How could she stand with conviction and strength?  Because she knew the joy of the Resurrection that comes after the sufferings of the cross.
• That is how we carry our crosses – fully aware that in the carrying of the cross or crosses that we have, we too will experience the joy of the Resurrection.

Final Thoughts on the Cross

• Life is not without pain, disappointment, and suffering.  It is how we choose to live through the pain, disappointments, and suffering that matters.
• Do we grudgingly drag the cross that we are given or do we embrace it with the confidence that God is with us and that these crosses will bring us into the joy of the Resurrection?