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Commentary on the Gospel for Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Today we remember Saint Pedro Poveda and other Spanish martyrs of the twentieth century, among the multitude of those who followed the Lord to the point of giving their lives. They knew how to carry the cross.
Do you know or have you met anyone whose life has not had a cross? We all carry a cross, which may always be the same or different at different times: there is no human existence without a cross. Sometimes it is so obvious that everyone can see it: illness, failure, poverty, separation, abuse, betrayal, loneliness, lack of love… There are palliatives, but only palliatives. True salvation comes only from Jesus Christ, who took upon himself all suffering, all pain, all failure, so that in his wounds we may be healed.
Some crosses are so hidden that no one sees them, not even those who carry them. I think of my mother, who, like everyone else, had good times and not so good times, or downright bad times, and we saw her suffer and enjoy, as the case may be. But she did not like to cook, and for more than sixty years she did it practically every day, twice a day. And she did it very well, without us ever hearing her complain (I only found out when she was very old). My mother was not an exceptional case of self-sacrifice. Many people could tell you this about their parents.
«Whoever does not take up his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple,» Jesus says. His demand for total detachment puzzles us. It is very difficult to «postpone» the affections of those closest to us, and even our own love. But to postpone is not to uproot, it is to put back, and besides, nothing is impossible for God. He has promised us a hundredfold.
And when He sets the conditions for its realization, He warns that no great undertaking is undertaken without calculating the cost. The undertaking is the unconditional decision to follow the way of Jesus. Something that requires us to deny ourselves and embrace the cross that saves us and gives meaning to all suffering. «Jesus, by assuming human suffering, made himself a sharer in all human suffering. And this was possible because of the infinite love of Jesus, and man, to the extent that he participates in this love, finds again the meaning that he seemed to have lost because of suffering» (Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris of John Paul II) To participate in this love is simply to be a disciple, to follow Jesus Christ.