Take up your cross and follow Me!
Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross , and follow Me.
Matthew 16:24
It seems amazing that to follow Jesus, we must lose ourselves to find ourselves. We must deny who we think we are and in Jesus become the people that we were meant to be.
St. Peter’s error in words he made to Jesus helps us to understand a possible error that we can all easily make. Peter said:”God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to You.” (Matthew 16:22) Peter is not taking up his cross in life. Simply put, Peter’s cross is to follow Jesus to the Cross! This is not what the Peter of the World wanted. But without denying his Earthly self, his Earthliness, he would never experience the Divine Peace that can only be found in following the Lord. Without this surrender, Peter would lose Jesus and His Resurrection.
Thank God that Peter became his real self!
To find our real selves, we must look beyond the world and follow the Creator of the World. We do this by following Jesus!
Let us pray and help each other deny our false selves and be real in Jesus!
We are with you in the struggle and in prayer!
Pax.
Hermitage of Peace 