Our Fear of Crosses

“Every cross is an invitation to die with Christ so that we may live with him.”

The following homily was preached to the student brothers during Compline. You can listen here or read below:

Reading: Luke 13:31-35

“Our greatest cross in this life is our fear of crosses.” St. John Vianney said that. We desperately fear crosses, those daily challenges that test who we are. Why do we fear crosses? It’s not a mystery; crosses mean death. The enemy takes hold of this fear, threatens us with types of death. He makes us think we will lose part of ourselves if, in the face of temptations, we choose to follow Christ. The enemy uses death to scare us, just like the Pharisees tried to scare Christ. “Get out of here” the Pharisees say, “stop healing, and casting our demons. Herod is going to kill you. If you keep doing the Father’s will, you will die!” But the prospect of death doesn’t discourage our Lord. He’s counting on it. “Tell that fox Herod, I cast out demons and perform cures, and on the third day I finish my course.” I finish my course. We hear this echo “It is finished” at our Lord’s death on the cross.

So why isn’t Jesus discouraged? He knows that crosses are opportunities for putting on the new man, the new Adam. They are opportunities for becoming who the Father made us to be. This exchange with the Pharisees is happening right now in our own hearts. We all have little Pharisees in our hearts, thoughts that seem to have our best

interests in mind, but are actually using fear to enslave us. “The cost of love is too high. This temptation is too powerful for you. You will lose part of yourself if you continue to follow Christ.”

Now is that true? Is following the Lord’s will, putting on the new man, really going to kill you? Yes it will. Absolutely. Following Christ requires the death of the old man. Our Lord is recreating the new you, by killing the old you. “[O]ur old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer.” (Romans 6:6)

Our fear of crosses is real, and it is good to acknowledge it. Our Lord feared his cross too. But he was not discouraged, that fear need not rule our actions. We can ask ourselves, which parts of us need to die, and then choose the good, certain that if we die with him, we shall also live with him.

Image: Christus in debat met Farizeeën (Reinier Vinkeles)