the way of the cross.

Yesterday, I chanced upon a booklet in our giftshop which was displayed recently in time for our Lenten spiritual exercises. It is about the Way of the Cross for monks and priests as prayed by the lay people. It is an inspiring prayer companion for Lent.

The title of the book carries itself a message for the soul. It is the way of the cross of Jesus. Every station along the way is a reflection of the many phases and stages of our spirituality and Christian life.

Indeed, the way of the cross is the way of life of monks and priests. But when I say that our life is like a prolonged way of the cross, I do not only refer to the sufferings and anguish that life brings us. However, our life is not all pain and sorrow. In every pain and in every hurt that life offers us, there is also a joy and consolation as counterparts that are coming from the Lord Himself.

For all of us, the sign of the cross identifies us as Christians, in the same way that the Jews are identified through the star of David. Some people make the sign of the cross very devoutly. Others do it as if they were waving off flies from their noses. If we cannot make the sign of the cross properly, how can we make the sign of the cross in our hearts?

Priests and monks cannot bless without making the sign of the cross. Those who are not willing to take up the cross have no right to be blessed. In every blessing is a cross and in every cross is a blessing.

It is the way of the cross for monks, for indeed, who should live the message of the cross first and foremost but the monks who join hands in celebrating the memorial of the dying and rising of the Lord? If the life of a monk is the way of the sacrifice, then it truly should be the way of the cross.

Monastic life is a difficult life. It is no joke to live a good one. It means lots and lots of hardships and sacrifices. I am starting to realize what the older monks told me way back when I was still struggling with my monastic formation. People do not seem to grasp the full meaning of this life. Our life remains an enigma to them. A mystery that remains unfolded.

All they seem to see are the images of monks in their superficial facets of their monastic life. They see us laughing during recreations, monastic professions, and other gatherings inside the Cloister. They conclude that we are happy. They see themselves listening to us at homilies and they conclude that we are successful. Our superiors praise us for the good homilies we deliver and they conclude that we are fulfilled. But there will always come a time when we feel a sudden kind of sadness creeping in us. The only consolation given to each and every monk inside the Cloister to keep their life going is their community, their acquired family. But in the midst of this, monastic life is still a way of the cross.

Same is true with the life of a priest. Priesthood is a difficult life. Not seldom in their lives do priests feel that they are like clowns. Priests have to hide from people their tears under a smiling made-up face because they do not wish to add to their flock’s burden.

They have to dance and jump at their beck and call, even if their legs feel broken and bruised. People think that the priest’s life is easy because he is served good food; the parishioners are cooperative and warm; and the children who come to the priests are so lovable.

Sometimes I feel that people seem to forget that priests are not supermen. After each busy day in church, the priest goes to his room, alone, fondly remembering the children who can never be his own. He returns to his room, alone, with no one to whom to bare his aching soul. It is a difficult kind of life priests have, and I guess, more difficult than a monk’s life inside the Cloister. And he is called to be the people’s shepherd.

The priest’s life is very much a way of the cross.
From whom did Jesus get support and consolation? From God and from the people God has chosen to be His instruments of hope. At the way of the cross, the ‘laity’ consoled Jesus--His Mother, Veronica, Simon of Cyrene, the weeping women of Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene and John.

The prayers of the lay people help the priests carry their crosses. The prayers of faith, the acts of love, the messages of hope, the words of trust- these bring purpose to the priest’s way of the cross.

Let us pray for our priests in the whole world as they carry their own heavy crosses in their parishes.