– Jasmin Yiu
Lent is always the best season to begin again in our interior life. This year, my Lenten conversion started from the procession of Bom Jesus, with an inspiring homily given by Fr Cyril Law. He mentioned that all should embrace, instead of merely accepting, our crosses.
But first of all, what is the meaning of our cross? We naturally associate the cross with sufferings, pain and all sorts of difficulties we encounter in life. Many times, we always focus on our sufferings and pain, and we would ask why there are so many sufferings and obstacles in our life. Or we even question Our Lord why He allows them to appear in our life, blaming Him.
In fact, we are the ones who decide whether the cross is heavy or light, bitter or sweet. Yes, the choice is ours, and it all depends on how we see the cross. Instead of accepting the cross unwillingly, we should take one step closer to embrace this cross.
By the same token, sometimes we are the ones who imagine and exaggerate the pain, we are the ones who impose pain and suffering on ourselves, because it is a human tendency to focus only on our own feelings, but not on a supernatural plane.
The things we encounter in life has the divine permission – God allows them to happen, but not that he is insane wanting us to suffer; instead, He wants us to discover Him and learn to get closer to Him through all kinds of experiences.
The cross is a divine gift
Are we grateful for all the things we encounter, including these sufferings and obstacles?
Fr Law mentioned a key point: that we can only carry the cross of today. Not yesterday’s, not tomorrow’s, but today’s. As humans, we tend to remember our past experiences, and bring it to our current situation, but this is not the Christian spirit. “If we carry the crosses of the past and of the future, we will be knocked down for sure,” Fr Law added.
It is understandable that we bring yesterday’s crosses to the present, because we are obsessed by the sufferings of the past. They are unbearable and cannot be erased easily, because of the pain, but at the same time, we must know the value of these sufferings, and bear in mind that the most powerful medicine is in front of us – God’s grace.
We have to rely on His grace, through the sacraments, and invite Our Lord Jesus to carry our cross. In this way, we will realize the cross is no longer a cross, but the path towards sanctity, in order to glorify Our Father God.
Renewing our daily cross with God’s grace, is the only way that can get closer to God, to be really converted this Lent.
Follow
