Book 2, CHAPTER 12: The Royal Way of the Holy Cross
Comment: Thomas shows us that the Cross is the only way to be delivered from this world into the Kingdom of Heaven – and it has to be on the Lord’s terms, not ours. We render our lives as worthy only by participating in His life and sufferings. God will not spare us the sufferings of this time so that He may spare us those of eternal suffering.
We enter heaven via the wooden bridge of the Cross. And we get to the bridge by dying to the self. We find that in trying to flee from the Cross, it reappears quickly in some new manifestation. Better to embrace the Cross chosen for us, and to follow Him, than to avoid the Cross and lose our way. I can only gain salvation by the route to Calvary for “I’ve been crucified with Christ(Gal 2:20).”
Thomas ends the chapter and this book by boldly stating that “If there had been anything better and more profitable to your health than to suffer, Christ would surely have shown it to us by word and example.” Our Lord clearly encourages us to bear our own cross, by saying, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me (Lk 24:46).”
Chapter 12, In Short.
1. Christ’s imitators will boldly draw near to Christ through His Cross.
2. Take up your cross, it leads to a Kingdom.
3. The Cross and dying to yourself are everything.
4. The Cross is always ready and waits for you everywhere.
5. If you willingly bear the Cross, it will bear you.
6. You cannot escape what no mortal has been able to avoid.
7. If you seek anything else but to suffer tribulations, then you are wrong.
8. The afflicted are not without some comfort.
9. It is not in our nature to bear the Cross.
10. Resign to the mature bearing of the Cross.
11. When enduring tribulation for Christ’s sake becomes pleasant to you, you have found paradise on earth.
12. If you accept what you ought, that is to suffer and to die to yourself, you shall be better and find peace.
13. If only you were worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus!
14. You should lead the life of a dying disciple.
15. If there had been anything better than to suffer, Christ would surely have shown it by word and example.
Question: What Cross have you been given to take up and follow Jesus?
Book 2, Chapter 12 The Royal Way of the Holy Cross
To many, this seems a hard saying: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow Me (Mt 16:24).” But it will be much harder to hear that last word from Him: “Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire (Mt 25:41).” For those who willingly hear the word of the Cross and follow it, will also be afraid of hearing about eternal damnation. The sign of the Cross will be in heaven when the Lord comes to judge. Then all servants of the Cross, who in life have conformed themselves to the Crucified, will draw near to Christ their Judge with great boldness (Gal 2:20).
2. Why do you fear to take up your cross, which leads to a Kingdom? In the Cross there is salvation. In the Cross is life. In the Cross is protection from enemies. In the Cross is heavenly sweetness. In the Cross is strength of mind. In the Cross is joy of the spirit. In the Cross you will find the height of virtue. In the Cross lies perfection of holiness. There is no health of the soul, no hope of eternal life, but in the Cross.
Therefore, take up your cross and follow Jesus and you will go into eternal life. Jesus went before you bearing His Cross and died for you upon the Cross, in order that you may also bear your cross and may love to be crucified upon it. For if you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you are a companion of His sufferings you shall also be a partaker of His glory (2 Cor 1:7).
3. Behold the Cross is all, and everything lies in dying to yourself. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace, except through the way of the Holy Cross and of daily mortification. Go where you will, seek whatever you will, and you shall find no higher way above or safer way below, than the way of the Holy Cross.
Dispose and order all things according to your own will and judgment, and you shall always find something to suffer either willingly or unwillingly, and therefore you shall always find your cross. For you shall either feel bodily pain, or within your soul, tribulation of spirit.
4. Sometimes you will seem to be forsaken by God, sometimes you will be tested by your neighbor, and what is more, you will often be your own worst enemy. And still you cannot be delivered nor relieved by any remedy or consolation: you must bear this as long as it pleases God’s will for you. For God will have you learn to endure tribulation without relief, and to submit yourself fully to it, and by this tribulation be made more humble. No disciple understands the Passion of Christ within their heart as well as the disciple who has also suffered similar tribulation.
The Cross, therefore, is always ready, and waits for you everywhere. You cannot flee from the Cross no matter where you run, for no matter where you run, you always bring yourself with you, and will always find yourself. Whether you turn upward, or turn you below, or turn you outward, or turn you within, in all of these you shall find the Cross. And everywhere you must, by necessity, possess patience if you will have internal peace and gain an everlasting crown.
5. If you willingly bear the Cross, it will bear you, and will bring you to the end which you seek, even where there will be the end of suffering; though it shall not be here. If you bear it unwillingly, you make a burden for yourself and greatly increase your load, and yet you must bear it. If you cast away one cross, without doubt you will find another and possibly even a heavier cross.
6. Do you think you can escape what no mortal has been able to avoid? Which of the saints in the world has been without the cross and tribulation? For not even Jesus Christ our Lord was one hour without the anguish of His Passion, so long as He lived: ”It was fitting for The Messiah to suffer,” He said, “and to rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory (Lk 24:46).” How do you seek another way than this Royal Way, which is the Way of the Holy Cross?
7. The whole life of Christ was a cross and martyrdom, and do you seek for yourself rest and joy? You are wrong, you are very wrong, if you seek anything else but to suffer similar tribulations. This whole mortal life is full of such miseries, and all around you are crosses. The further you have advanced in the spirit, the heavier crosses you will find, because the sorrow of your banishment increases accordingly with the strength of your love.
8. You who are afflicted in so many ways, are not without some comfort. You will begin to feel abundant fruit growing within you from the bearing of your cross. When you willingly submit yourself to the cross, every burden of tribulation turns into an assurance of Divine comfort. And the more the flesh is tested by affliction, the more your spirit is strengthened thoroughly by inward grace.
Sometimes your spirit gains strength through adaptation to its tribulations and adversities: by loving to be conformed to the Cross of Christ, as not to be without sorrow and tribulation willingly. For you believe that the more and the heavier burdens you are able to bear for His sake, you will be that much more acceptable to God. This is not the virtue of a disciple, but the Grace of Christ which has such power and energy in such weak flesh. What it naturally hates and flees from, it draws to and loves through fervor of the spirit.
9. It is not in our nature to bear the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and to bring it into subjection, to fly from honors, to bear reproaches meekly, to despise self and desire to be forgotten, to bear all adversities and losses, and to desire no prosperity in this world. You will not be able to do none of this if you look to yourself; but if you trust in the Lord, you will be given endurance from heaven, and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your command. Yes, you will not even fear your adversary the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the Cross of Christ.
10. Therefore, set yourself, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to the mature bearing of the Cross of your Lord, who out of love was crucified for you. Prepare yourself for bearing many adversities and troubles in this wretched life. So it will be with you no matter where you are, and so in every deed you shall find it, wherever you hide. This is the way it must be. There is no means of escape from tribulation and sorrow, except to bear these patiently.
Drink from the Lord’s cup lovingly, if you desire to be His friend and to have your lot with Him (Mt 20:22). Leave consolations to God, let Him do as
seems best to Him. But set yourself up to endure tribulations, and account for these as the best of consolations. The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,(Rm 8:18) nor would they be even if you were to endure them all.
11. When you have come this far, such that tribulation for Christ’s sake is sweet and pleasant to you, then think that it is well with you, because you have found paradise on earth. As long as suffering is hard for you and you want to escape it, it will continue to be hard for you, and tribulations will still follow you everywhere.
12. If you accept what you should, that is to suffer and to die to yourself, it will soon go better with you, and you shall find peace. Although you should be caught up with Paul to the third heaven(2 Cr 12:2), you are not yet secure from suffering evil. Jesus says, “I will show him what great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake (Acts 9:16).” It remains, therefore, for you to suffer if you will love Jesus and serve Him continually.
13. Oh that you were worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus! What great glory awaits you, what rejoicing among all the saints of God, what bright example to your neighbors! Patience is recommended to all of us, although few of us are willing to practice it. Since many people suffer great things for the world, doesn’t it stand to good reason that you ought to suffer a little for Christ?
14. Know for certain that you should to lead the life of a dying servant. And the more you die to yourself, the more you begin to live for God. None of us is fit for the understanding of heavenly things, unless you have submitted yourself to bearing adversities for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing is more beneficial for yourself in this world, than to willingly suffer for Christ. And if it were yours to choose, you ought rather to wish to suffer adversities for Christ, than to be refreshed with many consolations, for you would be more like Christ and more conformed to all the saints. For our worthiness and growth in grace lies not in many delights and comforts, but rather in bearing many troubles and adversities.
15. If there had been anything better and more profitable to your health than to suffer, Christ would surely have shown it to us by word and example. For both the disciples who follows Him, and all who desire to follow Him, He plainly encourages such a disciple to bear their cross, and says, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me (Lk 24:46).”
So now that we have thoroughly read and studied all things, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).”