Bearing the Cross

08-30-2026Pastor's LetterFather Wilson

Dear Parishioners, If we wish to follow Christ and find salvation we must learn to carry our cross. This is what Jesus spoke to his disciples about today in the Gospel. What is our own experience of suffering like? What thoughts come to mind when we say the word “cross”?

Christianity is about love, but charity and the cross are inseparable. The language of love is the cross. The cross is always a blessing. The cross transforms us and enriches us. It makes our life more human and profound because it teaches us to love and understand our neighbors.

If we have not suffered, it is impossible to truly understand others. Yes, the cross hurts us, it humiliates us, and it always seems unjust. When we look at our neighbor’s cross, it always seems lighter, while our own cross seems impossible to bear.

Peter is scandalized by the prospect of the Messiah’s sufferings and tries to stop him. Christ’s response is very harsh: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are to me an occasion of scandal.” These are the same words that Jesus spoke to the tempter in the desert. And he adds: “For you are not thinking as God thinks but as man thinks.” This is the temptation of every age.

The cross and suffering seem to be ideas from the dark days of the past. Nevertheless, Christ presents them to us as the indispensable condition for being his disciple. The true follower of Christ takes on these attitudes: denying oneself, bearing the cross and following Him. This means bearing difficulties, facing head on the situations of infamy, trial, or suffering that come up each day. The true follower of Christ is ready to lay down his or her life for Him, if necessary. When Jesus proclaims: “What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul,” he is inviting us not to reject the goods of this world, but to administer them responsibly, following his own example.

Pray to Christ today: “Lord, I cannot flee from the cross. I encounter it all throughout my life: in the pains of my body and in the sorrow of my soul; in tribulation, failure, fear, and anguish; in despair, doubt, difficulties, and work. Life is not always a bed of roses. You have given me an example of what it means to carry my cross. Give me the grace and the strength to follow you not just through this season, but all the way to Calvary.”

All the best…in Christ.