Take up your Cross...

23 Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.
Luke 9:23-24


I was reading the way of the cross by Catalina Rivas and I came upon the 12th station where this passage struck me.

The Twelfth Station - Jesus Dies on the Cross

...My children, there are no glorious crosses on earth. They are wrapped in mystery, darkness and exasperation. They are wrapped in mystery because you do not understand them; wrapped in darkness, because they confuse the mind; and wrapped in exasperation for they strike exactly in places where you do not want them to strike.

The Stations of the Cross, Catalina Rivas

 

How often we romanticize the cross on earth.  We think of severe illnesses, or a woman enduring a difficult marriage, or severe pain, or supernatural crosses like someone suffering the stigmata.  These certainly are crosses and they are obvious when they hit making us turn immediately to God for help, but the vast truth for most of us is something else.  Those daily crosses that we're asked to bear are the annoying co-worker that gets under your skin, the neighbor that always seems to be yelling or swearing, the person that keeps leaving the toilet seat up or the cabinet open, the person that cuts you off or the one who is driving too slow in single lane traffic, these are the crosses we are often asked to carry.  It's all those little encounters that make you want to swear or lose patience with someone and in turn lose your own peace, those people that drive you crazy and you're never quite sure why they bother you so much, guess what?  They're crosses sent by God.

Now there are a couple of former posts, one is a talk given by Fr. Gary, The Cross of Wood and the Cross of Light, and another The Crucifixion of Divine Will, both of which deal with the more spiritual aspects of the cross.  But I thought I'd take another look through the Volumes and look at what Jesus has to say about all those daily crosses we receive on this earth.  This is what I've found.

Jesus himself, states that the cross disposes the soul to look to Heaven by causing the soul boredom and bother.  It is meant to destroy the three evil kingdoms of the World, the Devil and the Flesh which is rooted in man in order to restore the three good and holy kingdoms the Spiritual, the Divine and the Eternal Kingdom created by God for man.

“The cross disposes the soul to patience.  The cross opens Heaven, and unites Heaven and earth together – that is, God and the soul.  The virtue of the cross is powerful, and when it enters into a soul, it has the virtue of removing the rust of all earthly things.  Not only this, but it causes her boredom, bother and contempt for the things of the earth, giving her, instead, the flavor and the enjoyment of celestial things.  However, few are those who recognize the virtue of the cross; therefore they despise it.”

Vol. 2, May 16, 1899

“My daughter, do not want to become tired in suffering, but rather, act as if at each hour you were just beginning to suffer.  In fact, if the soul lets herself be dominated by the cross, the cross destroys three evil kingdoms in her, which are the world, the devil and the flesh, and it constitutes in her three more good Kingdoms:  the Spiritual, the Divine and the Eternal Kingdom.” 

Vol. 6, June 3, 1904



He also states that crosses make the soul transparent in such a way that even little stains become strikingly apparent.



“The cross communicates such splendor to the soul as to render her transparent.  Just as one can give all the colors he wants to an object which is transparent, in the same way, with its light the cross provides all features and the most beautiful shapes that can possibly be imagined, not only by others, but by the very soul who experiences them.  Furthermore, on a transparent object one can immediately detect dust, little stains, and even a shadow.  Such is the cross:  since it renders the soul transparent, it immediately reveals to the soul the little defects, and the slightest imperfections, so much so, that there is no hand of master more capable than the cross in keeping the soul prepared, to make of her a residence worthy of the God of Heaven.” 
Vol. 2, July 22, 1899 




Crosses are means to detach us from earthly people and things, crosses of disillusion as Jesus calls them.  We are not meant to be co-dependent on other people, to love others above God.  God alone deserves all our love and we should love others for the love of God.  Or if we raise self esteem, or riches or any other thing or person above the love of God Jesus will send us these crosses so that we might once again look to Heaven first and lose our taste for the earth.  And if we submit to these crosses and accept the lessons they gives us we avoid a judgment at the hour of death.  Whether we accept these crosses or not will be our glory or our shame at our judgment.  Those little annoying moments that seem to needle us add up.

“My daughter, these are the crosses of the loss of illusion, which I keep always ready to disillusion the creatures.”  As He was saying this, we found ourselves in the midst of people, and as soon as blessed Jesus would see that someone would become attached to creatures, He would take the cross of persecution from that bundle and would give it to him; and that person, seeing himself persecuted, unpopular, would be disillusioned and would comprehend that those were the creatures, and that God alone deserves to be loved.  If someone would become attached to riches, He would take from that bundle the cross of poverty and would give it to him; and that person, seeing that riches had vanished away from him and he was now poor, would comprehend that everything down here is smoke, and that true riches are eternal, and so he would attach his heart to everything that is eternal.  If someone else would become bound to his self-esteem, to knowledge, blessed Jesus, with all sweetness, would take the cross of slanders and of confusions and would give it to him; and that person, confused and slandered, would remove as though a mask from himself and comprehend his own nothingness, his being, and would order his whole interior in the order of God, and no longer of himself.  And so on with all the other crosses.
After this, my adorable Jesus told me:  “Have you seen the reason why I have this bundle of crosses in my arms?  It is my love for creatures that forces Me to keep it, remaining in continuous attitude for them.  In fact, the cross is the primary disillusion and the first thing that judges the works of creatures, in such a way that if the creature surrenders, the cross will make him avoid the judgment of God, as I am satisfied when one submits to the judgment of the cross during his life.  If then he does not surrender, he will find himself in the sphere of the second judgment at his death, and will be judged with much more severe rigor by God; more so, since he has shunned the judgment of the cross, which is a judgment all of love.” 

Vol. 4, March 5, 1903

“My daughter, sufferings, crosses, are like many citations which I send to souls.  If the soul accepts these citations - whether they are citations that notify the soul to pay some debt, or it is a notification to obtain some gain for eternal life - if the soul responds to Me by resigning herself to my Will, by thanking Me, by adoring my holy dispositions, we are immediately in accord, and the soul will avoid many inconveniences that are possible, like being cited again, having advocates involved, going through the suit, and receiving the condemnation of the judge.  Responding to the citation with resignation and with thanksgiving alone will make up for all this, because the cross will be citation, advocate and judge for her, with nothing else needed for her to take possession of the eternal Kingdom.  If then she does not accept these citations - think about it, yourself, into how many abysses of disgraces and troubles she throws herself, and what the rigor of the judge will be in condemning her for having shunned the cross as her judge - so much milder, more compassionate, more prone to enriching her rather than judging her, more intent on embellishing her rather than condemning her.”

Vol. 6, March 5, 1904

“My beloved, the cross allows one to distinguish the reprobates from the predestined.  Just as on the Day of Judgment, the good will rejoice upon seeing the cross, so even now it can be seen whether one will be saved or lost.  If, as the cross presents itself to the soul, she embraces it, carries it with resignation and patience, kissing and thanking that hand which is sending it – here is the sign that she is saved.  If, on the contrary, as the cross is presented to her, she gets irritated, despises it, and even reaches the point of offending Me – you can say that that’s a sign that the soul is heading on the way to hell.  So will the reprobates do on the Day of Judgment:  upon seeing the cross, they will grieve and curse.  The cross tells everything; the cross is a book that, without deception and in clear notes, tells you and allows you to distinguish the saint from the sinner, the perfect from the imperfect, the fervent from the lukewarm.  The cross communicates such light to the soul that, even now, it allows one to distinguish not only the good from the evil, but also those who are to be more or less glorious in Heaven – those who are to occupy a higher or a lower place.  All other virtues remain humble and reverent before the virtue of the cross, and grafting themselves to it, they receive greater glory and splendor.”

Vol. 1, The judgment of the cross.



God often uses the cross like a bridle on a horse to tame and guide man.  Otherwise he states man would throw himself off a cliff and there would be an untold more number of evils in the world.

“My daughter, the cross is to the creature as the rein to the horse.  What would happen to the horse if man did not use the rein?  It would be untamed, unrestrained, and would but go from precipice to precipice, to the point of becoming fierce and noxious to man and to itself.  On the other hand, with the rein it can be conducted, it becomes tame, walks straight, serves the needs of man as a faithful friend, and stays safe from any precipice, because man keeps it and protects it.  Such is the cross to man.  The cross tames him, restrains him, arrests the course of his hurling himself along the paths of passions which he feels within himself, and which devour him like fire.  So, instead of raging against God and hurting himself, the cross dampens his passions, softens him, conducts him, and serves the glory of God and his own salvation.  Oh, if it wasn’t for the cross which, by Its mercy, Divine Providence holds as a rein in order to restrain man – oh, amid how many more evils would one see poor humanity lie!”
Vol. 7, October 8, 1906

The cross is bothersome, prickly and painful but only through patience can it reveal the treasure it has within and there is no sanctity or virtue that comes to one without the cross.  This ability to bear the cross is not something we can do by ourselves it is only through divine help that we progress.

“My daughter, the cross is a thorny fruit, which is bothering and prickly on the outside, but once the thorns and the cortex are removed, one finds a precious and delicious fruit. But only one who has the patience to bear the bothers of the prickings, can arrive at discovering the secret of the preciousness and flavor of that fruit. And only one who has come to discover this secret, looks at it with love, and goes in search of this fruit with avidity, without caring about the prickings, while all the others look at it with contempt, and despise it.” And I: ‘But, my sweet Lord, what is this secret contained in the fruit of the cross?’ And He: “It is the secret of eternal beatitude, because in the fruit of the cross there are many little coins which circulate only to enter into Heaven, and with these little coins the soul is enriched and makes herself blessed for eternity.”

Vol. 7, May 9, 1907



Ah! daughter, no kind of sanctity is without cross; no virtue is acquired without union with pains. 
Vol. 12, June 16, 1919




“My daughter, the way of the cross is a way strewn with stars, and as one walks through it, those stars change into most luminous suns.  What will be the happiness of the soul for all eternity in being surrounded with these suns?  Furthermore, the great reward I give to the cross is so great that there is no measure, either of width or of length – it is almost incomprehensible to the human minds; and this, because in bearing crosses, there can be nothing human – all is divine.”

Vol. 2, October 22, 1899 

 

Furthermore Jesus refers to the cross as Sacrament, not a sacrament, but Sacrament.  Where one sacrament removes sin, another unites us with God, the cross, however, has the ability to apply all the effects of all the sacraments and in a very short time can render the soul similar to the origin from which she came, that is God.  It forms the permanent union between the soul and God.

“My daughter, the Cross is Sacrament.  Each one of the Sacraments contains Its special effects – one removes sin, another confers grace, another unites one with God, another gives strength, and many other effects.  But the Cross alone unites all these effects together, producing them in the soul with such effectiveness as to render her, in a very short time, similar to the original from which she came.” 

Vol. 4, April 25, 1902

“My daughter, crosses, mortifications, are as many baptismal founts, and any kind of cross which is dipped in the thought of my Passion loses half of its bitterness and its weight decreases by half.” 

Vol. 6, June 5, 1905

“My daughter, how precious is the cross!  See now:  in giving Itself to the soul, the Sacrament of my Body unites her with Me, It transforms her, to the point that she becomes one with Me.  But as the species are consumed, the union, truly established, ceases.  Not with the cross.  The cross takes God and unites Him with the soul forever, and It places Itself more surely as a seal.  Therefore, the cross seals God in the soul, in such a way that there is never separation between God and the crucified soul.”

Vol. 3, April 21, 1900

“My daughter, if the Eucharist is the deposit of the future glory, the cross is the disbursement with which to purchase it.  If the Eucharist is the seed which prevents corruption – like those aromatic herbs that prevent decomposition when applied to cadavers – and gives immortality to soul and body, the cross embellishes and is so powerful that if debts have been contracted, it becomes their guarantor, and it more surely obtains the restitution of the debt’s deed.  And after it has satisfied every debt, it forms for the soul the most refulgent throne in the future glory.  Ah, yes, the cross and the Eucharist alternate, and one operates more powerfully than the other.”

Vol. 3, May 1, 1900

 
The cross prepares the soul so that divine virtues and truths can communicate themselves to the creature.  The greater the truth the creature is to receive the greater the cross to strip the creature of all that is human.


 

“My daughter, crosses, sorrows, pains, are like a press for the soul. Just as the wine-press serves to crush and peel the grapes, in such a way that the wine remains on one side and the skin on the other; in the same way, crosses and pains, like a press, peel the soul of pride, of love of self, of passions, and of all that is human, leaving the pure wine of virtues. And so my virtues find the way to communicate themselves and lay themselves within the soul as on a snow-white canvas, with indelible characters. How can you fear, then, if every time I have manifested to you my truths on my Will, these truths have always been preceded by crosses, sorrows and pains – and the higher the truths, the more intense and the stronger the pains? It was nothing other than the pressure of the press which I exercised in you, in order to peel you of all that is human. It was my interest, more than yours, that these truths would not be mixed with the skin of human passions.”

Vol. 16, December 26, 1923

The cross is the truest sign as to whether one loves God or not.  When someone bears their cross with patience and resignation than it is a sure sign that someone truly loves God.  Not because of their own merit but because one can only do so with divine help and that is the sign that the soul is united with the love of the divine life residing in the soul so that the soul loves with God's love.

I was thinking about why it is the cross alone that makes us know whether we really love the Lord, while there are many other things, like the virtues, prayer, the Sacraments, which could make us know whether we love the Lord. While I was thinking of this, blessed Jesus came and told me: “My daughter, it is really so, the cross alone is that which makes one know whether he really loves the Lord - but a cross carried with patience and resignation, because where there is patience and resignation in crosses, there is divine life. Since nature is so reluctant to suffering, if there is patience, it cannot be something natural, but divine, and the soul no longer loves the Lord with her love alone, but united with the love of the divine life.

Vol. 8, February 16, 1908

This divine help also secures the treasure of the cross in the soul which leads to the soul's sanctification.  Each cross secures another seed of virtue when the soul accepts it and submits to it.

“My daughter, the cross is a treasure, and the safest place in which to keep this valuable treasure is one’s own soul.  Or rather, it is a safe place when the soul is disposed to receive this treasure with patience, with resignation and with the other virtues, because the virtues are as many keys that secure it, so as not to spoil it or expose it to thieves.  But if it does not find especially the gold key of patience, this treasure will find many thieves, who will steal it and spoil it.”

Vol. 7, August 11, 1906

This morning, Jesus showed me a soul who was crying, but it seemed, rather, to be a crying of love. Jesus clasped her, and it seemed that inside His Heart there was a cross which, pressing against her heart, made her feel abandonments, coldness, agonies, distractions, oppressions; and the soul wriggled about, and a few times she escaped from the arms of Jesus to put herself at His feet. Jesus wanted that, in her state, she would hold on, remaining in His arms, telling her: “If you are able to hold on in this state, remaining in my arms without wavering, this cross will be your sanctification; otherwise you will always stay at the same point.”

Vol. 10, January 27, 1912

 

“My daughter, the cross is seed of virtue, and just as one who sows harvests for ten, twenty, thirty, and even one hundred - in the same way, the cross, being seed, multiplies virtues and perfections, and it embellishes them in an admirable way.  So, the more crosses thicken around you, the more seeds of virtue are sown into your soul.  Therefore, instead of afflicting yourself when a new cross comes to you, you should rejoice, thinking that you are acquiring another seed, with which you can enrich, and even complete, your crown.”

Vol. 6, January 28, 1905



One of the treasures of the cross it the ability to form the marriage between the soul and God.  Jesus deposited in the cross all the dowries sufficient to marry him but we have to accept these crosses.  If we don't we nullify the dowry and break the proposal.

“My daughter, when I received the Cross, I embraced It as my dearest treasure, because in the Cross I dowered souls and espoused them to Myself.  Now, upon looking at the Cross – at Its length and breadth – I rejoiced, because I saw in It sufficient dowries for all my spouses, and none of them could fear not being able to marry Me, because I held in my own hands – in the Cross – the price of their dowry.  But with this condition alone:  that if the soul accepts the little gifts I send to her - which are the crosses - as the pledge of her acceptance of Me as her Spouse, the marriage is formed and I give her the gift of the dowry.  If then she does not accept the gifts – that is, if she is not resigned to my Will – everything is undone, and even if I want to dower her, I cannot, because in order to form a marriage, it always takes the will of both sides; and since the soul does not accept my gifts, it means that she does not want to accept the marriage.”

Vol. 7, July 27, 1906




All of those little crosses and the large ones too, add up to form immense, eternal riches, beauties to enrapture God himself. 

“My beloved, do you want to be beautiful?  The cross will give you the most beautiful features that can possibly be found, both in Heaven and on earth; so much so, as to enamor God, who contains all beauties within Himself.” 

Jesus continued:  “Do you want to be filled with immense riches - not for a short time, but for all eternity?  Well then, the cross will administer to you all kinds of riches - from the tiniest cents, which are the little crosses, up to the greatest amounts, which are the heavier crosses.  Yet, men are so greedy to earn a temporal penny, which they soon will have to leave, but do not give a thought to earning one eternal cent.  And when I, having compassion for them, in seeing their carelessness for all that regards eternity, kindly offer them the opportunity - instead of cherishing it, they get angry and offend Me.  What human madness – it seems that they understand it upside down.  My beloved, in the cross are all the triumphs, all the victories, and the greatest gains.  You must have no aim other than the cross, and it will be enough for you, in everything. 

Vol. 1, The excellence of the cross.  In place of the cross she had till now, Luisa receives another much larger one.

 

“If you knew what good the cross contains within itself, how precious it renders the soul, and what a gem of inestimable value one acquires, who has the good of possessing sufferings…  It is enough to tell you only that, in coming upon earth, I did not choose riches or pleasures, but I cherished as dear and intimate sisters, the cross, poverty, sufferings and ignominies.”

Vol. 1, Preciousness of the cross.  Jesus renews Luisa’s crucifixion many times.



Before Jesus came and sanctified the cross sufferings were believed to be dishonors and those that look at them outside of Jesus will still remain blind to the good they contain.  But in them are the spiritual mirror where the soul can acquire the likeness of God.

“My Spouse, virtues become weak if they are not strengthened and fortified by the grafting of the cross.  Before my coming upon earth, pains, confusions, disgraces, calumnies, sufferings, poverty, illnesses, and especially the cross, were considered dishonors; but from the moment they were borne by Me, they were all sanctified and divinized by my contact.  They all changed their appearance, becoming sweet, pleasant, and the soul who has the good of having some of them, receives honor - and this, because she has received the vestment of Me, Son of God.  Only those who look and stop at the cortex of the cross experience the contrary; finding it bitter, they are disgusted by it, they complain, as if someone had done wrong to them.  But those who penetrate into it, finding it enjoyable, form their happiness in it.  My beloved daughter, I yearn for nothing else but to crucify you, body and soul.” 

Vol. 1, Third marriage:  the Marriage of the Cross.

“The cross is a mirror in which the soul admires the Divinity, and by reflecting herself in it, she acquires the features and the likeness which most resembles God.  The cross must not only be loved and desired, but one must consider it an honor and a glory.  This is to operate as God and to become like God by participation, because I alone gloried in the cross and considered suffering an honor, and I loved it so much that in my whole life I did not want to be one moment without the cross.”

Vol. 3, April 20, 1900

“The cross absorbs the Divinity into the soul, renders her similar to my Humanity, and reproduces my own works in her.”

Vol. 3, June 14, 1900




In summary Jesus had Luisa speak to him about the cross and all that she had learned about it.

...to make Him content I began to say:  ‘My Beloved, who can say to You what the Cross is?  Your mouth alone can speak worthily of the sublimity of the Cross; but since You want me to speak, I will do it.

The Cross, suffered by You, freed me from the slavery of the devil, and espoused me to the Divinity with an indissoluble bond.  The Cross is fecund and gives birth to Grace in me.  The Cross is Light, It disillusions me of what is temporal, and reveals to me what is eternal.  The Cross is fire, and reduces to ashes all that is not of God, to the point of emptying my heart of the tiniest blade of grass that might be in it.  The Cross is coin of inestimable value, and if I have, O Holy Spouse, the fortune of possessing it, I will be enriched with eternal coins, to the point of becoming the richest in Paradise, because the currency that circulates in Heaven is the Cross suffered on earth.  The Cross, then, makes me know myself; not only this, but It gives me the knowledge of God.  The Cross grafts all virtues into me.  The Cross is the noble pulpit of the uncreated Wisdom, that teaches me the highest, the finest and most sublime doctrines.  So, only the Cross will reveal to me the most hidden mysteries, the most secret things, the most perfect perfection, hidden to the most erudite and learned of the world.  The Cross is like beneficent water that purifies me; not only this, but It administers to me the nourishment for the virtues, It makes them grow, and only then does It leave me, when It brings me back to Eternal Life.  The Cross is like celestial dew, which preserves and embellishes for me the beautiful lily of purity.  The Cross is the nourishment of Hope.  The Cross is the beacon of operating Faith.  The Cross is like hard wood, which preserves the fire of Charity, keeping it always lit.  The Cross is like dry wood, which dispels and puts to flight all the smokes of pride and of vainglory, producing the humble violet of humility in the soul.  The Cross is the most powerful weapon that offends the demons, and defends me from all of their claws.  Therefore, the soul who possesses the Cross is the envy and admiration of the very Angels and Saints, and the rage and indignation of the demons.  The Cross is my Paradise on earth, in such a way that if the Paradise of the Blessed up there, is of delights, the Paradise down here is of sufferings.  The Cross is the chain of most pure gold that connects me to You, my Highest Good, and forms the most intimate union which can possibly be given, to the point of making my being disappear.  And It transforms me in You, my Beloved, to the point that I feel lost within You, and I live from your very Life.’

After I said this (I don’t know whether it is nonsense), my lovable Jesus was all delighted in listening to me, and taken by enthusiasm of love, kissed me all over, and said to me:  “Brava, brava, my beloved - you spoke well!  My Love is fire, but not like the terrestrial fire which, wherever it penetrates, renders things sterile and reduces everything to ashes.  My fire is fecund, and it renders sterile only that which is not virtue.  To all the rest it gives life, it makes beautiful flowers bloom, it makes the most delicious fruits mature, and forms the most delightful celestial garden.  The Cross is so powerful, and I communicated so much grace to It, as to render It more effective than the very Sacraments; and this, because in receiving the Sacrament of my Body, the dispositions and free concourse of the soul are needed in order to receive my graces, and many times these may be lacking; while the Cross has the virtue of disposing the soul to grace.”

Vol. 3, December 2, 1899