Introduction to The Cross of Christians

In the Gospel of Matthew, immediately after Peter confesses his faith in Christ who in turn confers on him a new name and the power of the keys, Jesus tells of the sufferings He will have to endure in Jerusalem, that He will be killed, and that He will be raised on the third day. Peter, “the Rock,” who had only moments before professed his faith before all under divine inspiration, now pulls Christ aside and rebukes Him saying, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you” (Mt 16:22). Now Jesus declares not that Peter speaks the words of God but the words of men. He goes so far as to call him “Satan,” “adversary.” The one who was just bestowed the title of an immovable rock on which the Church would be built is now a “stumbling block” seeking to trip up Christ.

But Jesus does not leave it there. Rather, He uses Peter’s fumble as an opportunity to teach the disciples. “If any man would come after me,” He says, “let him take up his cross”—here Luke adds “daily”—”and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:24–25).

This is not simply a call to take up physical wooden crosses, to ascend Mount Calvary, and to be crucified with Christ like the two thieves. No, the crosses we are to carry may not be physical and they almost certainly will not be wooden crosses upon which we will be crucified—though for some such as Peter and Andrew this is not out of the realm of possibility. Our crosses are the daily sufferings we face whether great or small. We are called by Christ to take up these sufferings for His sake, to endure them for love of Him as He endured the Cross for love of us, to surrender our entire lives up to His providential care, and to unite our sufferings with His. Jesus did not only demand that we take up our crosses with Him, but He promised that when we take on His yoke—and what is His yoke but the Cross—when we bear the Cross with Him, He will provide rest for our souls. “For my yoke is easy,” says the Lord, “and my burden is light” (Mt 11:30).

This issue is on the Cross. In part one we focused on the Cross of Christ. In part two we are shifting our focus to the cross of Christians, to the process of taking up our crosses daily and following Christ.

We begin with “The Heaviest Cross of All,” a poem by Katherine Eleanor Conway that reminds us that, while there are many crosses that come our way that are outside our control, the heaviest crosses are often those that we have created for ourselves by our sins. We then turn to an excerpt from Origen’s commentary on the first Gospel, reminding us of the importance of penance and self-denial. Next Christina Debusschere provides three clear examples of crosses we may face in our day-to-day lives and suggestions for how we might bear them.

Keeping to the theme, we turn then to Augustine in a sermon on Mark 8:34, wherein he emphasises the need to take up our crosses and deny ourselves if we wish to follow Christ into Heaven. Next Thomas à Kempis laments how few of us love the Cross and entreats us to embrace it in imitation of Christ. Finally, we hear from Anastasia Cherygova how TS Eliot’s play, Murder in the Cathedral, shows St. Thomas à Becket imitating the Passion and death of Christ in his own martyrdom.

With this reminder that taking up our crosses and denying ourselves may very well include the possibility of martyrdom we conclude our issue.

Finally a brief note. Our next two issues will be on the themes of “Christmas” and then “Money.” If you would like to submit an article for either of these issues, please send it to us at info@tradmag.org.

Now, I hope you enjoy meditating on the Cross as we embark on part two: “The Cross of Christians.”

Aaron P. Debusschere
Editor