The Cross We Carry

We’re constantly reminded that as Christians we have to pick up our cross and follow Christ. We hear those words so often that perhaps they can become almost too familiar. But Jesus isn’t giving us a slogan. He’s describing what it actually means to be a disciple.

Today, as the Church remembers St. Padre Pio, we’re given a remarkable example of what that discipleship can look like.

In our first reading, St. Paul says:

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

Those words could almost serve as a summary of Padre Pio’s life. For him, Christ was not simply someone to admire from a distance. Christ was at the centre of everything: the Mass, the Eucharist, Confession, prayer and his service of others.

And then Jesus says something very direct in today’s Gospel:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Notice that Jesus says “follow me.” He doesn’t say, take up your cross and somehow manage it on your own. The Christian life is not simply about enduring difficulties. It is about following Christ through them.

Padre Pio understood this profoundly. His physical and spiritual sufferings were real and often severe, but he sought to unite them with the suffering of Christ. His Mass, his prayer, and his priestly ministry all flowed from his relationship with the crucified and risen Lord.

Most will never experience suffering on that scale. But we all have crosses.

It might be waking up with pain and knowing that the day ahead will be difficult.

It might be caring for someone we love when we’re already exhausted.

It might be loneliness, disappointment or anxiety about the future.

It might be a difficult relationship, or the struggle to forgive someone who has hurt us.

It might simply be accepting that we can no longer do something we once took for granted.

These things can feel very ordinary, even insignificant compared with Padre Pio’s life. But the Gospel reminds us that the size of the cross is not the point. The question is whether we carry it with Christ.

Jesus says:

“Take up your cross and follow me.”

So when the difficult moment comes, perhaps instead of asking only, “Why is this happening to me?”, we can pray:

“Lord Jesus, I don’t understand this, and I don’t particularly want it, but I offer it to you. Help me to follow you through it.”

That is where the words of St Paul become real:

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

Christ lives in us not only when life is joyful and everything is going well, but also in those ordinary, difficult moments when we are simply trying to get through the day.

Padre Pio reminds us that holiness is not about having a life without suffering. It is about allowing Christ to be at the centre of our life, including our suffering.

And perhaps that is our simple prayer today:

“Lord Jesus, help me to carry the cross I have been given today, not without you, but with you.”

St Padre Pio, pray for us, that in our ordinary crosses we may discover the presence of Christ and faithfully follow him.

Deacon Neil Taylor