Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. These words of Jesus to his disciples in today's gospel (Luke 9: 18-24) are not always easy to hear. And yet, this is what he asks of us. During the Way of the Cross at Brazil's 2013 World Youth Day, Pope Francis told his young audience:
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| Christ carrying the cross, Titian ca 1565. |
“We have come here today to accompany Jesus on his journey of sorrow and love, the Way of the Cross, which is one of the most intense moments of World Youth Day. At the end of the Holy Year of Redemption, Blessed John Paul II chose to entrust the Cross to you, young people, asking you “to carry it throughout the world as a symbol of Christ’s love for humanity, and announce to everyone that only in the death and resurrection of Christ can we find salvation and redemption.”
...[T]he Cross of Christ invites us also to allow ourselves to be smitten by his love, teaching us always to look upon others with mercy and tenderness, especially those who suffer, who are in need of help, who need a word or a concrete action; the Cross invites us to step outside ourselves to meet them and to extend a hand to them. Dear friends, let us bring to Christ’s Cross our joys, our sufferings and our failures. There we will find a Heart that is open to us and understands us, forgives us, loves us and calls us to bear this love in our lives, to love each person, each brother and sister, with the same love.
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