Take Up Your Cross

When I’m interviewing people for my job as a staff writer at an archdiocesan newspaper, I like to ask them this question: at the end of your life, when you meet God, what do you want to hear Him say?

I’ve gotten a lot of interesting answers.

“I called and you listened.”

“What tee time would you like tomorrow?”

“What were you thinking?”

“Your service made things better.”

It’s a question I’ve thought a lot about, personally. What I want to hear God say when I finally see His face is this: “You can put it down now.”

When Jesus asks his disciples “Who do you say that I am?” he is not just asking them to verbalize an answer. He is asking them to do something: pick up the cross. Find the problems in this world, in this life, and throw your arms around them. Drag them to God, even if it kills you. It’s not enough to stand by the sidelines, watching Christ ascend to Calvary, nodding your head in approval. Yes, I agree. Yes, I believe. Yes, Jesus, good job! You have to follow in every bloody footprint he leaves in the dust. Set your face like flint. And when you meet him at the top, you better not be empty-handed. He has a cross, he will expect you to have one, too.

I hope that I can do it. I hope that I am strong enough. I am not one of those great, hardy souls. I stumble terribly under the weight of my very small cross. I grumble as I shift it from shoulder to shoulder. But every time I have been almost at the point of giving up, almost ready to lay it down, there is something — Someone — who supports my drooping arm. The Lord God is my help.

If, at the end of everything, I hear the words, “You can put it down now,” then I will know I have made it. I will know I have not failed: I took up the cross.

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

©LPi