Readings:
Philippians 2: 12-18
Luke 14: 25-33
Reflection:
‘Anyone who does not carry their cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.’ Luke 14: 26. Surely this is part of what living the Memory of the Passion is all about …
Today’s Gospel challenges us to re-think the social conventions that subtly control our ways of living. Jesus loved to up-end such choices to embrace in love and everyday living all those excluded or ignored. He invites us to live by his example. What exactly does this invitation to encounter mean for each of us today?
It seems to me that to really ‘encounter’, we need to heighten our awareness and acceptance of what is going on in ourselves and in those around us … eyes, ears, mind and heart open to receive all the signs and sighs of pain and suffering, neglect and disrespect, loneliness and despair, from people and situations around us today. We are not alone in being crucified or in carrying our cross.
Leunig expresses this encounter in very thought provoking prose:
‘We carry our cross in the way we have been taught, yet the time may come when, in order to keep bearing it we must find our own way to carry this cross – a strange improbable way, but one that is true to us – our unique holding … and fear not, for however we carry it the cross remains a cross – it is we who are changed – the cross required of us that we change our grip, our embrace, the way we shoulder it – and we dared to respond … and be glad … rejoice … for, in its mysterious way, it uniquely carries us – our cross carries US!’
Pam Storey is a member of the Passionist Faith Community at Holy Cross, Templestowe, and one of the founding members of Passionist Companions. After a very active and varied family, church and working life, Pam is now focusing on developing a slow spirituality.