Taking Up the Cross

This window puts us on the edge of our witness to the world. The dark red reminds us not only of Pentecost but also of the sacrifice of so many whose lives have brought vitality to the church. The array of several rod, staff and cross forms challenges each of us to pick up our own cross, to follow, to journey forth in witness to a hurting world.

— Jay Hanke

TODAY: Recall your earliest friend and the dreams you shared. Now spend some time tracking him or her down and write a letter, sharing your reflection on how your dreams have or haven’t been realized.

In February 1992 I found myself at the Benedictine Priory in Weston, Vt. The following is taken from my personal journal of that visit:

At the evening Eucharist, the order of service included a reading of the Gospel (while standing) and then the brothers would speak as they were moved of their experience of the reading. On this day, the Gospel reading was about taking up one’s cross and following Christ. After a long silence, one of the younger brothers, a tall blond young man named Brother Michael, spoke of a time when he was in college before he was called to the religious life. He and some friends made ambitious plans to build a large sailboat and navigate around the world. He called this a fantasy or a dream, that while it had positive qualities, it was really an escape.

But now that Brother Michael has accepted the religious life as his life, the building and sailing of the boat will not happen. And the gratification and exhilaration and personal affirmation expected from that event will not be available — at least not from a boat. Now, he is in a real life — with a more realistic “whole set of boats to build and to sail to many destinations.” Yes, he has taken up his “cross” for a committed life, and that is a more satisfying and peaceful pursuit. But sometimes he still thinks of that large boat and his friends in a far different way than in his undergraduate days.

As I reflect, I am not sure my record captured his thoughts exactly, but these are the meanings that spoke to me that day. I wonder about what things I am called to set aside in order to move to a new and richer future. Probably not knowable. These are God’s ways, our way is to trust.

—Joseph S. Matney