Embrace the Cross

Last night as I was packing my backpack in preparation for today's classes, I thought that it would be a good idea to bring along some extra homework (and therefore some extra books) so that I could work on it in between classes. However, that was not the most brilliant of ideas, as my already heavy backpack became almost unbearably heavy. But as I could not go back to my dorm due to time constraints, I was essentially stuck carrying it around all day. And so, as I walked from my university's student center to one of my classes, I noticed that the closer the backpack was to my back, the easier it became to bear, and that the farther away it was from my back, not only the heavier did it seem, but also the more painful. As I offered up this pain, it hit me that our crosses are the same. That is, if we try to reject them, to shirk them from our shoulders, to carry them only half-heartedly at a distance, the more painful and heavy they feel. (Believe me when I say this as I tried for years to get out from under the cross Jesus has asked me to bear.) But if we embrace our crosses, if we hold them close, the easier they become to bear. For, after all, as Meg Hunter-Kilmer says, "They're formed to fit our shoulders, to strengthen us as we walk alongside Him bearing a burden so much smaller than His." And although I am not saying that if we embrace our crosses, suddenly they will become so easy to bear that they practically cease to exist, no. What I am saying, though, is that while still heavy, by embracing our crosses through accepting God's Will, and by trusting that His Will is our salvation, the heavy burden of the cross will become easier to carry. Just like that backpack. Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.

"O good Cross, Cross the source of all good, Cross so long desired, so passionately loved, so continually sought after; thou art at last granting my longed for desire!"

~ Saint Andrew