Fr. Michael Williams

In an age when schools, hospitals, parishes have mission statements we could say that Jesus gives us His mission when He says: ‘the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously…to be put to death and after three days to rise again’. In this statement Jesus reveals to us both His suffering and His glory. He is keen to stress that both of these elements are part of His mission. It’s not just about glory; it’s also about the cross. Although often we can be like Peter, who just wanted glorious Messiah without the suffering.

I recently heard a joke that sort of demonstrates this point. It tells of a man who loved playing football. But he was anxious about whether there would be football in heaven so he said a prayer to Our Lord looking for the answer. God sent St Peter down to him and when Peter appeared to the man he said, ‘God has heard your prayer and there’s some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there is football in heaven’. The man said, ‘that’s fantastic, but what’s the bad news?’ St Peter replied you’ve been picked to play tomorrow!

But to return to the Saint Peter of today’s gospel we also probably find it hard to accept that ‘the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously…to be put to death and after three days to rise again’. Yet this is Jesus’ mission statement: To endure the suffering and then the eternal glory.

Jesus’ advice for us is ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine let him take up his cross and follow me’. It’s not a road any of us want to particularly travel, but each of us will have various crosses to carry in this world. Carrying our particular crosses can seem daunting at times, but we are never alone with our trials and tribulations. God is with us, and He sends others to be with us.

We only need to look to Our Lord when He carried His Cross to Calvary. Along the way He was accompanied by various people in His terrible suffering. Firstly, there was His Mother, Mary. Her presence must have been a source o f great strength for Him (and she is there for us too). And then there was Veronica who stepped out of the crowd and lovingly wiped His face with her veil. And then there was Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus carry His cross. And then there were the women of Jerusalem weeping for Him. None of these people could take Our Lord’s Cross away or remove His suffering. But they could accompany Him in His suffering, which was a source of strength and consolation for Him. God will also send us the strength and support we need through life’s difficult road. We need to accept with humility the help when it comes.

But we know that the cross is not the end of the story. We know that Good Friday, the Day of Suffering, is followed by the Easter Sunday, the Day of New Life, the day when suffering and death are overcome by the Risen Lord. This victory happened on a Sunday and that’s why we celebrate Mass together every Sunday. Our Lord wants us to share in His Resurrection and the eternal happiness this will bring. But first comes the Cross.