Pope: Take Up Your Cross

From Asia News Italy

Taking his cue from today’s liturgy, the Pope said that “if to save us the Son of God had to suffer and die crucified, this is certainly not part of a cruel plan by the Celestial Father. It is due to the gravity of the illness from which he had to heal us; a very serious and deadly illness that require all his blood. It is in fact with his death and resurrection that Jesus defeated sin and death and re-established God’s lordship. However, the struggle is not over yet,” he added. “Evil exists and resists in each generation, even in our day and age. What are the horrors of war, the violence on the innocent, the merciless misery and injustice of the weak, but evil’s opposition to the Kingdom of God? How can we respond to so much wickedness if not with the disarming strength of love that beats hatred, of life that does not fear death? It is the mysterious strength that Jesus used at the price of being misunderstood and abandoned by his own people.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, to fully achieve the work of salvation, the Redeemer continues to have men and women join him and his mission in taking the cross and following him.

As it was for Christ, carrying the cross is not optional for Christians but a mission to embrace out of love. In the today’s world, where the forces that divide and destroy appear to rule, Christ never stops to extend his clear invitation to all: Those who want to be my disciples must reject their selfishness and carry the cross with me.”