Memorial of Saint Dominic

Today's Mass Readings

Today’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew includes a line we are all familiar with, namely, take up your cross. How many times have we heard that we each have a cross to bear? It might be difficult for us, however, to really grasp how challenging and shocking those words would have been for Jesus’ disciples. Keep in mind, when we hear about bearing our crosses, we already know about Jesus’ death by crucifixion, as well as His glorious resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven. But when the disciples first heard Jesus mention the importance of bearing their crosses, they didn’t quite get the fact that Jesus had to die on the cross. Jesus said as much only 3 verses earlier, but they didn’t get it then. Peter in fact actually rebuked Jesus when Jesus mentioned His own eventual death. The disciples probably would not fully understand what Jesus had to do until after the resurrection. They would, however, understand the image evoked by Jesus’ words: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). In Jesus’ first century context, all of the disciples would have been familiar with the Roman practice of making victims of crucifixion carry a portion of their cross to the site of execution. Not only were you crucified on a wooden cross, but you often had to bear the wood of the cross up to the place of execution. Most, if not all, of Jesus’ disciples would probably have actually seen crucifixion at some point in their lives. In such a context, the idea of bearing one’s cross takes on a whole new meaning.

But that is precisely what Jesus is getting at. We have to die to self if we are going to follow Him. Only by understanding His words in the literal sense of carrying wood to the place of execution, followed by being crucified to death, can we understand how these verses can apply to us today. Few if any of us will ever be called upon to be literally crucified, although this is what happened to some of the Christians in 18th century Japan. But we are all called to die to self. This does not mean hating oneself. Rather, it involves putting others first.

In essence, Jesus died serving us. He poured out His love for us on the cross. This is why the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar used to talk about Jesus’ crucifixion as the paradigmatic example of beauty, not because von Balthasar was some sort of masochist, but rather because he recognized in Jesus’ crucifixion the perfect example of what it means to truly love. Our own sacrifices, small though they be, can be transformed by Jesus’ own sacrifice into immense gifts of love. Bearing crosses is not simply a matter of enduring hardship, rather it is a matter of selfless love for God and for others even in the face of persecution and difficulty, and even sometimes of physical death.

Today is the memorial of St. Dominic, a great example for the Church of selfless love. Let us imitate Jesus and St. Dominic in our loving service to others, even when times prove difficult. Let us die to self more and more everyday, for it is only in dying to ourselves that we can truly find ourselves, who God made us to be.

- Jeff Morrow