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Sunday 22 A
30th August 2026
Peter does not like it, we don’t like it either, but the message cannot be avoided: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” In a sense, this is the very heart of the Gospel. Either we believe in Christ, that He is the Saviour of the world and speaks the truth which comes from God, and we listen to what he says, obey his orders and follow him; or we don’t and we choose to follow our own way.
Like it or not, the way of Jesus is the way of the Cross. There is no other way leading to salvation. Jesus does not spend time explaining us why it is so. In fact, He does not give any explanation except that this is mysteriously God’s will and God’s plan. You accept it or not. This a question of trust. Jesus does not explain the why of the Cross, but He shows us the how: “Take up you cross and follow me.”
Of course, in a sense, we know what the cross is about. We have an experience of the imperfections of our human life. We see others suffer terribly. We ourselves have our own sufferings – visible or more often hidden. In ourselves, in the circumstances of our life, in the people who are dearest to us, as well as in our most remote brothers and sisters in humanity who seem exposed to an incredible number of trials and sufferings for no obvious reason: everywhere we see the signs of our human condition, at the same time beautiful and broken by sufferings.
Jesus gives a name to this part of suffering which is in our lives. He calls it “the cross”; more precisely, our cross – my cross, yours, for the cross is always personal and unique. Jesus invites us to dare to call it “my cross”. Let us stand back a minute and realise what He is telling us. My sufferings and Jesus’ Cross can share the same name because they belong to the same reality. I am allowed to call the secret pain of my heart “the Cross”, “my Cross”, because the mystery of Jesus is in it. There is, or there can be, in “my Cross” a reflection of and a participation in Jesus’ Cross, provided I take it up and follow Jesus.
Jesus was God. He was the Innocent One, the man without sin. Suffering and death had no right over Him. He gave them the right to attack Him, even to destroy His human life. Jesus chose to suffer and to die. Jesus chose the Cross. Jesus took up His Cross. He took it up out of love – not love of suffering, certainly not, but love for us and His Father. Thus, He taught us that there is a way of taking up our sufferings, our crosses, that gives them a meaning. He taught us that, with Him and in Him, by communion with what He first did when He took His Cross, our crosses, too, can become instruments for His divine love. To put it otherwise, our crosses which are like big holes in our lives, like a terribly painful and meaningless emptiness, can be filled by Jesus’ love and thus become meaningful, even fruitful.
“Take up your cross and follow me”: once again, this is the heart of the Gospel; not because the Gospel is fascinated by suffering, but because the Gospel addresses the reality of suffering in each of our lives and in the whole world by connecting it with the mystery of Jesus. Jesus alone fills the empty hole of human hearts broken by sufferings.
Jesus’ love thus saves us not from the cross – as, like Peter, we would probably prefer it did –, but with the cross and by the cross. Yes, my cross, this part of my life which I detest and would so much like to get rid of, this very part can, even must, be brought close to Jesus’ Cross which contains the whole mystery of our salvation.
Christian life is about following Jesus. “Follow me” is the first and the last word of Jesus to any disciple. We trust this word of hope.
“Follow me”, says Jesus, towards all that gives life and make you grow and thrive and be happy.
But also, “Follow me” on your own way of the Cross which is one with mine.
Our cross thus becomes a place of intense dialogue and silent communion with Jesus. Without Him it is meaningless. Without Him, it is unbearable. With Him, it becomes life-giving, for me and for the world, and it even gives glory to the Father. This hope, the hope of the martyrs, is ours if we truly believe.