The indispensability of the cross

THAT’S right. The cross, given our human condition, is

absolutely necessary in our life here on earth. We cannot even be

human, much less, Christian, without the cross.

            Without the cross, we think that we can be absolutely on

our own. Without the cross, the only possibility we have is to sin, to

go against God, to demean our dignity as a human person and a child of

God, meant to be in God’s image and likeness.

            Without the cross, our freedom would easily go haywire,

get unhinged and proceed to pursue false, albeit quite attractive

goals. Without the cross, pride, vanity and their cohorts would easily

dominate us. Humility and the privations and sufferings that it

occasions automatically become a disvalue and are thrown out of the

window.

            That’s the reason why Christ, who only has our own good in

his mind and heart, commanded us that if we want to follow him, we

should deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) We need the

cross more than we need air to breathe, food to eat.

            We have to understand then that the cross is not something

optional, though it has to be embraced as freely as possible. We

should avoid thinking that since the cross is necessary, we should

just force ourselves to accept it. That would be a wrong and dangerous

attitude to have.

            Thus, we have to spend time meditating on this

indispensability of the cross in our life so we can form the proper

attitude and the relevant skills. We cannot deny that our human

condition at the moment is quite averse even to the mere mention of

the cross. But this condition has to be overcome, with God’s grace, of

course, but also with our own effort.

            Just like anything else in life that we want to master, we

need some training here. Thus, instead of just waiting for the cross

to come, we should actively look for it. At the beginning, it is

understandable that we take on small crosses so we can be prepared for

the big ones. There has to be gradual assimilation of the importance

of the cross in our daily life until the cross becomes an organic part

of our life.

            I remember a saint who wrote on the first page of his

personal diary the following words: “In laetitia, nulla dies sine

cruce.” (In joy, there is no day without the cross.) I think it’s a

good motto to have and to guide us. We really should try our best to

look, find and love the cross everyday.

            The cross, of course, can come in many forms. There are

the physical ones, the internal and external ones, the emotional and

mental ones, the spiritual and moral ones. There also are the

ordinary, small ones and the extraordinary, corporal and special ones.

            We can start with the small crosses like eating less of

what we like, guarding our senses like our eyes and mouth. We can put

a tighter grip on our imagination and judgments, etc. Perhaps a

relevant mortification would be to limit our use of the internet and

the many gadgets that tend to distract us from our more important

duties.

            The more subtle forms of mortification are to develop the

ability to put order into all the things of our day, observing the

proper priorities, while at the same time, trying to be as productive

as possible by learning how to put together in some kind of synergy

the different tasks we have during the day.

            When we are faithful in bearing these little crosses, then

we can be more ready for the big ones, as when we are severely

misunderstood and mistreated, when we fall into some serious sickness,

when we suffer some crisis of one kind or another.

            That’s when we can be ready for the final one: when we

face our death and our transition to eternal life.