Your Cross is not as Heavy as You Think
Don’t be scared of it; our Lord has blessed it.
The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart. This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes. Understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with His loving arms and weighed with His own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His holy name anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven. A special greeting from God to you. A gift of the all-merciful love of God. Amen.
St. Francis de Sales
Often at times, I feel like the call to fatherhood is tremendous. There are many times that I don’t feel good or strong enough to be called “Dad.” There have been so many instances where I have not lived up to the title and beat myself up for not being patient enough, compassionate, or gentle enough, but by God’s grace, picked back up where I left off in holy courage to persevere.
The Lord gives us the strength to do so. When we fully cooperate with whatever He wills us, He will always give us the strength to carry our cross so as long as we look at Him with childlike dependency.
Our crosses are a blessing, and the Lord our God has assigned our crosses before all time.
He knows us.
He knows what will be too much for us, and thus protects us from excess.
Take comfort in knowing that wherever He has placed you at this moment, you either have been graced by God with the present courage to withstand it or that He will grant you new strength to persevere.
Your cross won’t be too large for you as long as you carry it in the Lord’s name. May God grant you the strength today to carry yours. Amen.
