How To Carry Our Cross

But if, on the contrary, you suffer in the right way, the cross will become a yoke that is easy and light, since Christ himself will carry it with you. It will give you wings, as it were, to lift you to heaven; it will become your ship's mast, bringing you smoothly and easily to the harbor of salvation.

Carry your cross patiently, and it will be a light in your spiritual darkness, for the one who has never suffered trials is ignorant.

Carry your cross cheerfully, and you will be filled with divine love; for only in suffering can we dwell in the pure love of Christ.

Carry your cross cheerfully and you will draw from it an all-powerful strength which
none of your enemies will be able to resist, and you will find in it a delight beyond anything you have known. Indeed, brethren, the true earthly paradise is found in suffering for Christ.

~St. Louis de Montfort

Dear Lord, teach me how to carry my cross, with You and for You. Amen.

Taking Up Our Cross

Let him take up his cross, the one that is his. Let this man or this woman, rarely to be found and worth more than the entire world (Prov. 31, 10-31), take up with joy, fervently clasp in his arms and bravely set upon his shoulders this cross that is his own and not that of another; his own cross, the one that My Wisdom designed for him in every detail of number, weight and measurement; his own cross whose four dimensions, its length, breadth, thickness and height (Eph. 3, 18), I very accurately gauged with My own hands; his own cross which all out of love for him I carved from a section of the very Cross I bore on Calvary; his cross, the grandest of all the gifts I have for My chosen ones on earth; his cross, made up in its thickness of temporal loss, humiliation, disdain, sorrow, illness and spiritual trial which My Providence will not fail to supply him with every day of his life; his cross, made up in its length of a definite period of days or months when he will have to bear with slander or be helplessly stretched out on a bed of pain, or forced to beg, or else a prey to temptation, dryness, desolation and many another mental anguish; his cross, made up in its breadth of hard and bitter situations stirred up for him by his relatives, friends or servants; his cross, finally, made up in its depth of secret sufferings which I will have him endure nor will I allow him any comfort from created beings, for by My order they will turn from him too and even join Me in making him suffer.

Let him carry it, and not drag it, not shoulder it off, not tighten it, nor hide it. Let him hold it high in hand, without impatience or peevishness, without voluntary complaint or grumbling, without dividing or softening, without shame or human respect. Let him place it on his forehead and say with St. Paul: "God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6, 14) Let him carry it on his shoulders, after the example of Jesus Christ, and make it his weapon to victory and the scepter of his empire (Is. 9, 16). Let him root it in his heart and there change it into a fiery bush, burning day and night with the pure love of God, without being consumed.

The cross: it is the cross he must carry for there is nothing more necessary, more useful, more agreeable and more glorious than suffering for Jesus Christ.

~St. Louis de Montfort in The Friends of the Cross

Dear Lord, with all my heart I thank you for my cross, "the grandest of all the gifts" you have for me on earth. Help me to embrace it lovingly and carry it gladly with you and for you, my King and my God. Amen.

Note: Above picture is of the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania.

The Faithful Echo of God

Today is the memorial of St. Louis Marie de Montfort, the French priest whose love for and devotion to our Blessed Mother is legendary. He was born January 31, 1673, and died April 28, 1716. If you're not familiar with St. Louis de Montfort and his spirituality, Fr. Patrick Gaffney, S.M.M. has written an excellent article called "An Overview Of The Life And Spirituality Of Saint Louis De Montfort" that's well worth reading. The Montfortian Religious Family has a Web site listing St. Louis' many writings, which are still widely read today, and Catholic Culture provides some links to those writings available on the Web. One of my favorite passages from the treasures of St. Louis follows. St. Louis, teach us true devotion to Mary so that she may help us become more like her, a faithful echo of God!

Mary is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God. If you say "Mary," she says "God." When St. Elizabeth praised Mary calling her blessed because she had believed, Mary, the faithful echo of God, responded with her Canticle, "My soul glorifies the Lord." What Mary did on that day, she does every day. When we praise her, when we love and honor her, when we present anything to her, then God is praised, honored and loved and receives our gift through Mary and in Mary.

~St. Louis Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, #225