Today, in the very middle of fasting, to support our spirit in the middle of the hard journey, we, together with the entire Church, venerate the Cross of Christ, to receive its strength, power and consolation!

(Not to mention that the Great Lent itself is an essential part of our cross.)

The path of faith is the path of the cross, and there is no other path to God. And Christ Himself, as we have just heard from the Gospel (Mark 8:34-9:1), said: Whoever wants to follow Me, let him deny yourself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Let us remember when the Lord said these words: they are pronounced immediately after Peter’s confession (see Mark 8:29) and his appeal to the Saviour not to go to the sufferings… (Let us think about it…)

How can we take up our cross?

The first thing that makes up our cross is our involuntary sorrows (and we often say about them with regret: “this is our cross”, and often add, “we cannot do anything about it…”, and some say these are not the perfect means…), the misfortunes all people are subject to and from which we are not able to evade. These are diseases, departing of loved ones, bad and unpleasant actions of other people, and other difficult and unhappy occurrences. Of course, we try to avoid all this, but sometimes life makes us carry it on. And then (what makes them perfect…), if we accept our cross by faith, then we try to endure our sorrows without murmuring, even as deserved; or otherwise, as we are taught by the holy fathers, if we grumble and curse our fate, we do not bear our cross.

“…for we receive the due reward of our deeds”, said a criminal on the cross, the one who was the first to enter the Heavenly Kingdom, according to the Lord’s word.

“Regarding fasting when there is no health,” says St. Theophan the Recluse, “patience with illness and complacency during it replace fasting.” Even so! And it is certainly true not only about illnesses…

But our cross is not only involuntary sorrows. It is also those sorrows and difficult efforts that we take up, when our Christian faith and duty require it. And it demands that we evade from everything that moves us away from God — from all the temptations to adore and worship the things of this world:

to avoid depending on the pleasures and consolations contrary to God, and to our nature, with which the world catches us in the love and worship of itself;

not to succumb to it can be both difficult and sorrowful… but only then do we bear our cross!

Finally, our cross is the rejection of everything that opposes God within us, inwardly. Because, one can live in a monastery or even in the desert and without any benefit.

“Taking up our cross means enduring difficult unseen labor, and torment as we oppose our own passions, the sin that lives in us, the spirits of evil who furiously make war against us and attack us when we resolve to cast off the shackles of sin, and submit ourselves to the yoke of Christ.” – says St Ignatius, the one who is among those who gave us this simple and complete summary of what is taking up our cross.

For what benefit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?

Another way to do this commandment is to help other people carry their crosses, just like we can help others carrying some heavy things and burdens. This one might be easily available for us, and also reminds us how a man (Simon of Cyrene is his name) was helping the Lord Jesus to carry His cross on the way to Golgotha.

The way of the cross is not easy. But all the other ways do not lead to salvation. For, says the Lord, whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, and whoever loses his soul for the sake of Me and the Gospel will save it.

True life and true freedom, and true happiness (even often in this life) can only come through taking up one’s cross. Amen