How heavy are your burdens, the weight of the rocks you carry around daily? Are they heavier than the cross that was carried by our Lord? A humbling event is to pray the Way of the Cross, Jesus’ journey to His crucifixion. As you walk along side Jesus, the way His mother did, observing every fall and every wound inflicted from the torturous hits, can you imagine the weight of the cross He carried? Can you see the weight of each one of your rocks being added to His cross? Perhaps when your rocks were added, He fail for the first time or may be the second time.
As I prayed the Way of the Cross, I realized how insignificant my own burdens are compared to the burdens of the entire world. Jesus carried the weight of the entire world as He carried His cross to His crucifixion. The weight of my cross is a small fraction of that in which our Lord carried, yet I often complain or feel sorry for my own crosses I’m asked to carry. When I complain, I pray that they are taken away, that I no longer have to carry them. Then God reminds me that there is sweetness in carrying my cross. In this sweetness is victory, this victory is my relationship with Him, my reliance upon Him in the midst of carrying my cross. When I see this victory, I feel the weight of my cross lift, as that weight is added to Jesus’ cross. As I continue to carry my cross as the weight has lifted, I walk beside Jesus and observe every detail of His journey as this is now my journey. I pray that I complain less about my crosses and embrace them more because this is the journey to accepting God’s will and living in unity with His desires in my life. This is the way to sainthood.
Have you embraced your crosses with love and acceptance, or with anger and resentment? Or have you rejected your crosses that God has asked you to carry?
