Transcript
Even Our Lord hesitated before the weight of the Cross. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed that the cup of suffering might pass from Him. Yet He added the words we place at the heart of every prayer, these words are essential and implicit in every prayer we make to our Lord, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” No one rushes toward suffering. The Cross is never easy. Suffering has the capability of both destroying a person or transforming them, and so we throw ourselves entirely into the grace of our Lord in these matters. The cross, though daunting, stands at the centre of Christ’s life — and of ours. Helen Keller, the American author who was both deaf and blind, once said something that rightly shocks and challenges us, these are her words and her understanding, she knew the possibilities of the cross being transformed into an invincible source of victory and grace. She says, “I thank God for my disabilities. For through them I found myself, my work, and my God.” What an extraordinary faith. She did not deny her crosses; she allowed God to transform them into countless blessing and graces for everyone who was touched by her life. To follow Christ means to “die” to selfishness and rise to new life. There is a cost to discipleship, but we do not count it like an accountant’s ledger. Sometimes we may face loss or rejection, yet we live for something greater — life with Christ. When our crosses feel heavy, may we trust His promise: “Come to me… and I will give you rest.”