Bearers of the Cross

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
16 September 2018 | Mk 8:27-35

Reflection: Christian life is an imitation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord challenges us in our Gospel that knowing Him is being open to any possible suffering that may come because of Him. When a Christian is a Christian only when good things are given and discards the suffering that faith incurs is not a true Christian. St. James greatly emphasized this in our 2nd Reading, that faith should work and every work that we do should be in accord with our faith.

The Cross of Jesus is always given to each one who professes faith in Christ. The Cross is the identity of each Christian. The Cross a symbol of death and suffering, is a symbol of pure love that seeks not itself but the good of the beloved. This is where we are called to be. We have to become bearers of the Cross of Jesus and not a stumbling block to those who would like to embrace and carry it. The Cross of Christ is our only hope in this world who has lost the meaning of suffering, who thinks only of doing away the Cross and has become the enemy of the Cross of Jesus. Suffering is redemptive when Jesus is there at the center of it.