A Sunday Thought From St. Francis de Sales To Those Who Carry a Particulary Heavy Cross

When we carry a particularly heavy cross in our lives, prayer should be our constant companion. 

We've been talking about prayer these last few Sundays. There are many ways to pray. These last few Sundays we focused on simplifying our prayer. Keeping prayer simple pleases God and helps us to pray no matter what's going on or how we happen to feel. There's no need to concoct anything extraordinary. We don't have to block out huge chunks of time. We simply pray when we pray simply.

Simple prayer works best when we carry a particularly heavy cross. When you're straining under the weight of a cross, you don't want to strain even more simply to pray. Pray simply.

My experience with heavy crosses has been that the weight is just part of the deal. It's always seemed that they land on my shoulder when I'm least prepared for them.

Besides work - which generally requires my full time, attention, and strength - there are always domestic matters that can't be put off, no matter how I happen to be feeling. Into the midst of the push and pull of work and personal life that cross falls seemingly out of the sky and smashes down on my shoulder.

I don't know about you, but sometimes, even with a really heavy cross, a little humor can help make things a bit more bearable. For example, I might think of Jackie Gleason's character, The Poor Soul. Don't now him? He's a classic Gleason creation. He looks like this:

So I mentally dress myself up like the Poor Soul and get a little chuckle to lighten the load a bit. Sometimes it helps. But not always.

(If you're not familiar with Jackie Gleason, you're missing out. He wasn't called "The Great One" for nothing.)

So here's something from St. Francis de Sales for those heavy crosses that don't respond well to any lightening agents like that Poor Soul image.

If you've got one of those heavy crosses, I hope you find this helpful. It at least helps us to understand the true nature of a cross we must bear. And it helps us to bear it in the right way.

It sums up the essence of why how our crosses could - really should - be welcome. Read it carefully and you'll see why

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 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 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, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.

To all of us bearing our crosses on this summer Sunday:

Happy Sunday!