"Take up Your cross and follow me." This is one of the most challenging passages in the Gospel. It is challenging, because the Gospel in itself is always challenging, but it is not negative, for Jesus did not preach the Gospel to put us down but to raise us up with saving grace.

In reference to his own crucifixion, Jesus declared "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself" (Jn 12:32). There are many ways of understanding the meaning of the cross in one's life, and indeed the meaning may change from time to time and from one set of circumstance to another, for the Gospel speaks the truth to everyone in all times and in all places, if only we have ears to hear with and hearts attuned to listening. In the Incarnation, Jesus committed himself to the work of our redemption: "he humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:8). Taking up one's cross entails commitment: commitment to Jesus, to the Father, to the gift of faith which becomes our task of believing, sincerely and honestly, and living in hope and love in accordance with that faith.