Monday's Thought

"Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me."  -Matthew 10:38

At the end of Chapter 4 in Father Larry Richards' book, 'Be A Man!', He poses 3 tasks that we, the faithful, should accomplish.  In one task, he suggests that we must "Be a man who 'fans into a flame' of the Holy Spirit within you.  Find a friend, or a priest or a deacon, and ask him to pray over you that you would fully receive the gift of God's spirit."  It might seem a bit odd to be asking for the Spirit to be flamed and yet in today's gospel selection Jesus is talking about who is worthy and who is not.  Today we don't really have a good understanding of what it meant to take up a cross.  We all have seen the crucifixes and probably have seen visual depictions of the Passion, but in our everyday society we don't get to see real corporal punishment.  When we go into the city of Denver, the local authorities do not have common criminals and theives nailed to the "Welcome to the Mile High City" sign. It is not in our daily lives for us to see suffering that will most likely end in death.  That cross is usually only borne by doctors and family of terminally ill patients.  But in the days of the Roman Empire and even earlier, most people were well aware of the suffering of the cross, so when Jesus said to take up the cross and follow him, it must have been a very difficult thing to hear.  I think that we must be willing to take up the cross to follow Christ.  Once we embrace our suffering with Christian charity, then I believe, Christ comes and fulfills his promise that 'his yoke is easy and his burden light.'  Let us today trust in the Lord and meet our suffering.  Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to come and give us the gift of fortitude so that we may have the courage and the strength to bear all things in the name of the Lord.


"God, almighty and everliving Father, Christ, Immanuel and Spirit, fire of justice blazing; We need your presence for than ever.  The world shows us trouble and bitterness and hate; we need your spirit and truth.  Heal our troubled hearts and give peace to our restless minds.  Strengthen our hands and feet to go where you send us and do what you need us to do.  Let us always be good stewards of the gifts you give to us and let us always commend ourselves daily to your loving care.  This we ask through the same Christ our Lord.  Amen."