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WEB 4 - ARCHIVE
Commentary 26 - Page 7 |
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Taking up the Cross So Christian paedia has survived to this day, but primarily among the more ascetic members of the monastic movement, the rigors of whose methods (asceticism did not always imply hardship in the way it does now) have helped to discredit it with the general public. Gospel teachings about the strait gate and the narrow way refer in their simplest sense to the difficult choice that must be taken at this point, where we must go beyond the point which we can see; beyond what we can control. This choice is well described in the gospel verse that says: "And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" ( Matthew 26:39). This is the point where we ‘take up our cross.’ This leaves us intentionally exposed to circumstances beyond our control, forced to live out in reality the situation described in the Gospel passage about the 'lilies of the field' ( Luke 12:22-31). The inner anxiety that results is one of the meanings of the monastic term exile. At this point in the Christian life, something in us begins to exert a resistance. The ambiguity of the description used here is normal. These choices are so difficult to define directly that, on the Christian path, they are normally defined indirectly, for instance they may describe the choice that must be made in terms of indicators or signs whose presence will tell us when we have made the right decision. Some of these signs serve as analogies for what we must observe, but first we must learn to interpret such analogies. Others are simply indicators, but when we observe them this tells us that we are making the right choice. One method is that of negative definition, when we are advised what not to do: not to take the line of least resistance, for example, or not to choose the comfort-able or the easy in preference to what we see to be necessary. This method is linked to what is called apophatic theology, which defines God by speaking of what He is not. |
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