DAILY HOMILIES #cross

If you agree that Mary carried Jesus in her womb for nine months and went through labor pains to have him, I do not know of any mother that would not feel a thing while watching her innocent son go through all of these. Whatever our present sorrows in this life may be, let us be consoled that we have a mother who was no stranger to sorrow and reach out for our rosary in asking for her intercession.

If we are being persecuted, insulted, and denied our rights because we are Christians, one day, our very sufferings shall become our badges of honor in heaven. As we celebrate the exaltation of the cross today, so also shall we be exalted for our faithfulness in carrying our cross.

Forgiveness is one virtue that enables us to resemble Christ more. No matter what others may have done to us, no matter what they may have taken away from us, no matter what privileges they may have denied us, if we do not forgive, we are not yet Christians. We don’t forgive because the person who has offended us deserves it, we forgive because of our Faith in Christ Jesus who was able to forgive the very persons who executed Him on the Cross of Calvary. It does not make sense (humanly speaking) to forgive, but it takes a Christian to forgive. Remember, as Christians, we do not operate according to human wisdom, but Divine Wisdom.

To be wise in the spiritual sense is to trust little in your wealth, your current status, your education, your connections, and even your present devotional practices. To be wise is to have a backup; something extra, something to hold on to should everything else fail. To be wise is to have some extra oil. What is that extra oil? It is, in the words of St. Paul in today’s first reading THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS.

We cannot follow the narrow door if we cannot dare to stand out from the world and be different. To enter by the narrow door is to love God’s commandments regardless of what the world thinks about them.

The way of the cross is the narrow path; it is the road least followed; it is the path that always seems more painful; the cross entails that we make sacrifices for the sake of God, the cross is what Adam and Eve failed to embrace. The way of the cross is the way to Life.

Christians who see the Christian faith as a shortcut to success, comfort, and prosperity cannot withstand trials. When they don’t get what they expect, they rush to wherever they expect solutions. They are not afraid of God; for them, God is just a tool, an option among many providers.

One lesson we learn from Jesus is the need to always tell ourselves this truth: “It is not going to be easy but glory awaits me in the end.” Faith in God is not a shield against tough times; it is the motivation to push through despite the obstacles.

Just as the people looked up at the serpent for healing, so also we look up at the Cross of Jesus for healing.

God calls us individually to different tasks. Just as our gifts and abilities are different, our sufferings for the sake of God are never the same. Sometimes we would wonder if God is partial but all that matters is that we follow Jesus.

Never fall into the temptation of taking the easy path. In life, there are no short-cuts. Can you imagine being operated upon in a life or death situation by a doctor who cheated his way through school? Just as there is always a price to pay, there is a prize (reward) that comes with every suffering we face in life.