4) CARRYING

THE CROSS

What have been your crosses?

Who have been your crosses?

Everyone has a cross to carry.

And the Stations of the Cross are not only on the walls of our churches. They are also along our streets, but especially along the walls of our homes.
Everyone has a cross to carry.

Sometimes it feels like we have to carry it all alone.

Sometimes others help us.

The cross is made of wood.

It has become the symbol of Christ and Christianity.

We all know how to make the sign of the cross on our bodies – because that’s where we so often experience crosses: cancer, arthritis, headaches, and the slow loss of mobility and memory.

Most crosses come in the shape of people.

Obviously, Jesus’ cross was from people and he accepted it for people. People crucified him and he turned the other cheek to stop the violence that plagues our world – ever since the day Cain killed Abel.

Most don’t experience violent violence: murder, rape and assault.

Most crosses, as Tip O’Neil said of politics, are local.

A daughter is an alcoholic or a son is on drugs.

A husband is out of work.

A car accident causes a daughter to be paralyzed for life.

A marriage breaks up.

Our kids refuse to bring their kids, our grandkids, to church.

A son or a daughter moves in with someone refusing to get married and they come to visit us. What to do? Where to sleep? What to say?

Crosses then come in the form of people – usually those who are close to us – and people are hard to carry.