“He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.’”
It was a pretty brazen move on Peter’s part to rebuke Jesus, even in private. We all want to avoid pain and suffering. We go so far as to deny it exists, minimize it’s power, gloss over it’s ramifications, pretend everything is alright. Jesus doesn’t do that. He shows us that the way of love is to embrace suffering. It is the only way to victory, from death to new life, from the cross to resurrection. We must not avoid, but embrace the pain. Jesus says:
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the gospel will save it.”
We are rarely free to choose our own crosses. Most of the time, they are in our lives against our will, even if we nail ourselves to the wood. Yet, we have the freedom to accept and carry our crosses, even if we wouldn’t have chosen them. This power comes from God and is the power of love. In our woundedness, it leads to healing. In grief, it leads to peace. In betrayal, to forgiveness. In conflict, to reconciliation. In death, to hope. Taking up our crosses and following Jesus is the path to life.
In the current crisis, there are plenty of crosses to go around. Most painful are the crosses the survivors of abuse carry. The physical, psychological, and spiritual pain destroys lives, relationships, and faith. The weight can be unbearable and, with tremendous sorrow and grief I write these words, some have taken their own lives. There are no words I can write to adequately address their suffering—no action that can make it right. My tears and prayers are too little. Our actions now to protect children are too late. Accountability and justice must come and can help, like Simon of Cyrene, but they cannot restore what was lost. These crosses can only be carried.
While certainly to a lesser degree than survivors, everyone else has a cross to bear, as well. All Catholics, ministers, employees, volunteers, sisters, nuns, monks, brothers, friars, and ordained clergy suffer in carrying our own crosses. While we may want to avoid them, the Lord knows I do, these crosses are ours to be carried. This scandal is not going away anytime soon. And if it leads to greater truth, accountability, justice, transparency, integrity, and purification, we need to carry it all the way through crucifixion and the tomb to emerge, God willing, in new life. It should take as long as it needs to take. Healing, peace, forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope come from embracing this cross and following Jesus. Jesus is with us as we carry our crosses, but even more than that, we are with Jesus, who in love hung upon his own cross for our salvation. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.