“…take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8,34)

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Today is the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross, marking the midpoint of our Lenten journey. The Cross stands at the center of the Paschal mystery, which is the transition from death to life.

As we prepare for Easter, we hear Jesus’ words today: “Take up your cross and follow me.” This isn’t just a symbolic call to endure suffering or passively accept life’s difficulties. It’s an invitation to actively participate in Christ’s saving mystery of death and resurrection.

The Cross represents the passage from death to life. Christ didn’t merely suffer passively — He accomplished a Passover from death to resurrection.

So, “taking up the cross” means allowing Christ’s Passover to transform our lives. It means always being open to a new and more perfect life, from being a servant to becoming a child of God.

Saint Paul reminds us in his Letter to the Romans: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:3-5).

This shows us that the Christian life is not just about imitating Christ on the outside, but truly being united with Him in His death and resurrection.

Through Baptism, we have received the grace to witness and participate in the Kingdom of God, which has come in power through the Paschal mystery. Amen.

fr. A.R.