Once a man was walking on the path of life complaining about his crosses. God heard his complaints and sent him an angel who had this conversation with him: – “Why are you complaining every day about your life?” The man replied: “Because the cross I am carrying is too heavy for me, I would like to have a lighter cross, I can no longer bear this cross, it is too much for me, I can’t.” The angel answered: “God heard your prayers, he sent me to help you; He wants you to choose your cross, come with me” and the angel transported him to a room that was full of crosses. They were just crosses, without Jesus crucified: big and small ones, heavy and light ones, nice and awful ones, cheap and expensive ones, etc.
This person started walking around the room. He was looking at the crosses and thinking: this is too heavy for me I am not strong enough; this is too luxurious for me, I am a simple person not made for luxury; this is too small for me, I am not a kid I have to carry a big one, etc. At some point he saw a cross that seemed to fit with his personality: this cross is good, not too heavy but not too light, not too big but not too small, simple, made of wood, etc.
He said to the angel: “I choose this one, I think this cross fits perfectly with my personality and style of life.” “Good choice” said the angel, “I agree with you, that cross is perfect for you. Now please, look at the bottom of the cross, there is a name there, let us see to whom it belongs.” The man, turning over the cross, read the name that was engraved on the bottom of it, and to his surprise it was his own name.
The angel said to him: “You see, God always sends the cross that fits each person—never too heavy to carry, so he will not fail in life; nor too light, so he may earn merits for eternal life.” Saying this, the angel disappeared, and he understood the lesson: “the cross is the love of God for each one of us, He wants the best for us and sends exactly the cross we need to be holy.”
Our daily cross—the one each one must take up to follow Jesus—is not a wooden beam. The cross is the pain of illness, the injustices we endure, the exhaustion of work, the struggle against sloth, the effort to be generous. Our cross is to do things well and to do good to others even when we do not want to. The cross is crushing my pride or conquering my self-love.
Saying this in a positive way, the cross is always living out of love for God, love for my neighbor, and true love for myself rather than out of selfishness or disordered love for myself.
