“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) This is just part of what Jesus iterated to his disciples in this weekend’s Gospel. We sing of this in our opening song, “Take Up Your Cross”. This tune is a familiar one, Erhalt Uns, Herr, which is attributed to J. S. Bach, even though it was written earlier in the mid-1500s with a version of it found in the Wittenberg hymnal. Back in that time in Germany, most major cities and their cathedrals had their own hymnals! Anyway, this text brings to song the Gospel passage:
“Take up your cross, the Savior said, if you would my disciple be;
Deny yourself, the world forsake, and humbly follow after me.”
That’s what we’ve got to do. Take up a cross. I bet we have variious crosses in our lives that we can take up –some big, some small. Pray about yours this week and ask yourself if you are truly bearing it, or do you just complain about it? How did Christ bear His cross? Did He complain to the women He came upon on His path to crucifixion, or did He comfort them?
Our song at Communion, “The Summons”, is written by John Bell with the Iona Community. This song looks further into the question of taking up our cross –what does it mean for us in our lives? What does it mean if we follow Jesus? What will we encounter, and will we still bear our cross for Christ?
Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around?
Our closing song, “With One Voice” (composed by Ricky Manalo, CSP, and published by Spirit and Song, a division of OCP), gives us some ideas to think about for ways to follow Christ while taking up our crosses.
With one voice, we’ll pass the Word along;
With one voice, bring justice to the world.
And with all the angels we’ll spread the goodness of God.
With all power and glory the Word of God shall reign.