Pick Up Your Cross

by Fred Vilbig

In the Gospels, Jesus told His disciples that if they wanted to be one of His followers, they had to deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Him. Matt. 16:24. In Luke, Jesus is quoted as saying that we have to pick up our cross daily. Luke 9:23. The cross is not an option to Jesus. It is a fundamental requirement.

In Colossians, Paul tells us that he rejoiced in the sufferings that he endured for the benefit of the members of the church since he was making up what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ. Col. 1:24. That can be a very confusing passage since the sufferings of Jesus were more than sufficient to redeem us from our sins, but Paul still felt that he was participating in the redemptive act of Jesus, uniting himself to Jesus on the Cross.

Christ continues to be with us in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, we are profoundly present to the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. In a very real sense, the Passion of Jesus occurred in time and space, but it also transcends time and space. Time and Space are creations of God, so there is no way that He could be subject to them. If you read the Book of Revelation, you’ll notice that the entire book is basically a description of the Mass in heaven[1]. The Mass, the sacrifice of Jesus, is eternally present to us, and if we are joined to the Body of Christ through baptism, we are also joined to the Crucified Jesus.

We, of course, are not physically nailed to the Cross. Although there are Catholics dying for their faith every day throughout the world, I doubt that anyone of us will be asked to make that ultimate sacrifice. So how is it that we can daily pick up our cross?

Some may think that Jesus was telling us we need to fast and punish ourselves to participate in the Cross. These are called mortifications. They do have value, but since they are sufferings that we choose, they actually have limited value. In a sense, these mortifications are “ego” driven.

St. Alphonsus Liguori, in his book The Practice of Divine Love, contrasts mortifications with the involuntary sufferings that God allows: our health or financial problems; the loneliness and broken hearts we endure; generally, the sufferings that just come up in our day-to-day lives.

St. Alphonsus says that God cherishes our patient endurance of these sufferings for His sake much more than the mortifications we might inflict on ourselves. If we believe that God is supremely powerful, everything that happens every day is allowed by God. As such, the offering of our daily sufferings is immensely valuable to God and should also be treasured by us.

So how do we offer our sufferings to Christ? The Church encourages us daily to make a Morning Offering. Through the Morning Offering, we transform all the little inconveniences and daily pains and sufferings we endure into holy things. We advance the Kingdom of God in our midst.

There are many forms of the Morning Offering. The following is taken from the one I have used for what that is worth:

Oh Jesus, 
through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 
I offer all of my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day 
In union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. 
I offer them for all of the intentions of your most Sacred Heart. 
In reparation for my sins, 
For the intentions of all of my family and friends, 
and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father.

This prayer is a good way to start the day. It is also a good prayer to say throughout the day. You change the trials of the day into avenues of God’s grace. In this way, we take up our cross and follow Jesus each and every day.

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[1] See Michael Barber, Unlocking the Book of Revelation, Lighthouse Catholic Media.