When I was in
elementary school I would always complain to my mother why I should have to
bring my bulky books and notebooks in my bag pack which size was almost half of
my height. Everyday this would be my routine going to school which was almost a kilometer away from home. I would go back and forth twice a day since my mother
would not let me take my lunch at school since home was just quite near. So, I
would go to school in the morning with my bag almost half of my size and would
go home for lunch and go back for afternoon classes and come home again. And
when my younger brother began schooling, (he is two years younger than me); I
had now two things to complain to my mother. First, is my heavy-bulky bag. And
second my crying-baby younger brother of course with his own heavy and bulky
bag. So, while carrying my bag I had to mind as well my younger brother in
going to school and coming back home.
And for quite
some time this had been my recurring complain. My bag and my brother were a
burden for me. When my classmates and I would compete of who would arrive at
school first or at home, I just couldn’t run faster. I was always the last. Yet
I tried really once to unburden myself with all those stuffs that prevented me
from running faster and to be the first one to arrive. I left my bag as well as
my younger brother. But OOPS! The prize I got was a whip on my butt and a
litany from my mother that seemed to have no end. What a bad move! I left my
heavy-bulky yet lovely bag and my crying-baby younger brother to receive a whip
and an unending litany.
Nevertheless,
Jesus says, “"If any want to become
my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow
me. (Lk. 9:23)” It is Jesus’s invitation to anyone. It is an invitation
that is certainly heavy and demanding. It is an invitation that entails
sacrifice. Looking at this statement alone, it appears dull and unappealing.
For what reason that someone would do that? However, in the Gospel, Luke
presents the promise of Jesus and it is the promise of eternal life in the
Kingdom of God. And this is what makes the invitation of Jesus meaningful and
relevant.
Hence, to be a
follower of Jesus or so to say to be a Christian demands this self-denial and
taking up this cross daily.
Consequently, it tells about suffering. And truly this is no easy task to take
up ones cross or crosses. It was not even easy for me to take up my heavy and
bulky bag and my younger brother. However, I survived and I grew up
particularly in my relationship with my younger brother. And now that I have
grown up and chose a life of my own (I hope according to the will of God), I am
called and invited continuously not anymore by my mother but by the Lord to
take up my cross-es. And there are many of them, small and big ones, thin and
thick ones.
Thus, I have two ways of living with my crosses
of suffering. It is either to sit down under them and feel like a victim or I
can take them on my shoulders and try to walk with them. Yet either of the ways is not easy. If I would choose the first, I would seem to
run away from suffering and that when I cannot escape from it I treat it as an
enemy that has defeated me. Then, choosing this is running the risk of becoming
full of complaints and self-pity. This is surely the harder way: harder for
myself and perhaps for everyone around me. Nevertheless, I see the wisdom of
the Gospel quite different. And this is what the latter choice says – taking them
on my shoulders and walking with them. It tells to face suffering, not to treat
them like an enemy but like a friend, to learn, unlearn and relearn from them, to
let them draw away from my self-centred thoughts and feelings, and ultimately
to see them as a sharing in the Passion of Christ. Amen.
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