SermonStudio

In contemporary society, where self-fulfillment, accomplishment, personal enrichment, and enjoyment are the goals sought by the majority, it seems inconceivable that people would willingly sacrifice, suffer, and be humiliated so that others would benefit. Yet, in the twentieth century alone there have been many people whose unselfish example and willingness to subjugate self for the needs of the whole have transformed individuals and nations.

The Gilded Age and Progressive Era were periods of massive immigration to the United States. Most immigrants initially found themselves in the urban squalor of an ethnic ghetto. New York's Hell's Kitchen was one such place. An environment of poverty, unsanitary living conditions, and a general sense of hopelessness was the common lot of thousands of immigrants who resided in the district. While most Americans either ignored or refused to listen to the cries of the immigrant masses, there was one man who heard their pleas and acted to change the social order. Walter Rauschenbusch was a Baptist minister who had been raised and initially educated in Rochester, New York. As pastor of a small church in Hell's Kitchen, Rauschenbusch took on the pain and suffering of his people. He lived through their daily struggles and worked to alleviate their pain. Later, as a renowned theologian and principal spokesman for the Social Gospel movement, Rauschenbusch wrote, in such books as A Theology for the Social Gospel, that society could be transformed if people were willing to apply the gospel message, despite its challenges and difficulties, to contemporary problems. Rauschenbusch was a man who took seriously Jesus' injunction to bear the cross and follow in his footsteps.

The Great Depression was the worst economic disaster in American history. While historians well remember the efforts of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his New Deal to right America's economic ship, few recall or even know of the work of Peter Maurin, Dorothy Day, and the Catholic Worker movement which they founded. Maurin, a French peasant who had emigrated to the United States via Canada, possessed many ideas for the social transformation of society, but he had no way to publicize his views. Dorothy Day, a journalist who had formerly associated with radicals and Communists in Greenwich Village and recently had converted to Catholicism, was a woman looking for her vocation. When the two met in December 1932 it was a good match of theory and practice. As founders of the Catholic Worker movement, which sponsored roundtable discussions of contemporary issues and established houses of hospitality and farm communes for the poor, Maurin and Day offered another solution to the Great Depression, namely personal involvement with the lives of the poor. They voluntarily lived simply so others could simply live. They too took up the challenge of the cross.

In 1970 Oscar Romero was a quiet, but well-known, priest pastor, radio preacher, and newspaper editor in El Salvador. That year he was appointed auxiliary to the archbishop of San Salvador; four years later he was given his own diocese, Santiago de Maria, in a rural section of the country. Romero quickly became involved as an advocate of land reform; he became a vocal champion of the rights of the poor in his diocese. In 1977 he was elevated to the position of archbishop in San Salvador at the urging of local political leaders who believed that he would be "safe" and not meddle in the affairs of state. But Oscar Romero's recent experience in Santiago de Maria convinced him that injustice of any nature was wrong, but especially wrong were actions against the defenseless and those with no voice in society. He continued as the principal organ for the poor, playing loudly and constantly. He took on the cause of righteousness which had been so long ignored by church and state alike. Romero paid the ultimate price for his stand when he was assassinated in March, 1980, most probably by a death squad working for the very government officials who had originally championed his cause.

Are you a person who feels burdened with many afflictions, like those in Hell's Kitchen, the poor of the Great Depression, or those plagued with injustice in Central America? Are you one who seeks the assistance of the Lord in carrying your burdens, or have you sufficient strength and courage to be the one who takes on the burdens of others, as did Walter Rauschenbusch, the proponents of the Catholic Worker, and Oscar Romero? Today's Gospel contrasts those two questions in its challenge that while we may be burdened we nevertheless are asked to help others with the crosses of their lives.

Today's Gospel passage follows the reading we heard last week. Again we hear of an encounter with Jesus and Peter. Peter had just professed his belief in Jesus as Messiah and Lord; he has demonstrated his faith through his ability to see beyond the obvious human characteristics of Jesus. Now, however, we observe the other side of Peter, the counter side of all humanity. We see the side of Peter which refuses to accept God's plan. Even experiencing the privilege of walking in the footsteps of the Lord has not provided Peter with the ability to understand the Master's plan. He refuses to accept the fact that Jesus has come to suffer and die. He does not want to cover the crosses of loneliness and fear which Jesus' departure will bring. This is the cross that Jesus himself will shoulder, but Peter cannot bear to face it.

Peter does not appear to be ready to accept God's plan, which brings with it a cross for him and for every human person. Unlike the poor in New York and the destitute in El Salvador, who bore their suffering, their cross, without complaint and were rewarded by courageous Christians who shouldered their burden for them, Peter runs away from the challenge he faces.

Jesus, on the other hand, is the Rauschenbusch, Day and Maurin, and Romero of contemporary society who accepts his role. Freely and without hesitation he carries the cross, which is the burden of human sinfulness. Rauschenbusch, the Catholic Workers, and Romero bore the pain, indignity, and suffering of those they encountered. Jesus also bore the pain of the world in the weight of his cross, but he was not afraid to profess its necessity and power in his life. The Lord challenges Peter and all of us to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow in his footsteps. No one looks for the cross and the various forms of pain it brings, but Christians must not run away from the reality of life and our necessity to walk the road with Jesus. Contemporary conventional wisdom says it is foolish to give one's life away. We are bombarded with advertisements and slogans in multiple media forms which tell us life is here and now. We must "go for the gusto," live today, and secure the great "treasures" of power, wealth, and prestige. As the commercial says, "Who says you can't have it all?" Jesus, however, leaves no doubt that if we seek to save our life today we will lose the gift of eternal life tomorrow. If we, however, like those courageous Christians, take up the cross, shoulder the burden, and lose our life now, then we will experience eternal life when God calls us home.

As the stories of Walter Rauschenbusch, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, and Oscar Romero pose the question, "Where do we find ourselves -- shouldering the cross or having it lifted?" so the gospel challenges us to move beyond ourselves, and accept the cross when it comes, but always with the certain knowledge that Jesus is ready to aid us if we will only ask for assistance. Jesus' message is clear -- we must carry the cross! To reject the reality of life, which at times comes with obstacles, pain, and uncertainty, is not the road of discipleship. But we do not walk alone. Jesus is present every step of the way, leading, guiding, and ready to help us when we call to him. The popular poem "Footprints" illustrates how Jesus never abandons us. Rather, the Lord is carrying us when the road is most difficult and the weight of the cross beyond our strength.

Discipleship will lead us to the cross, but we may be called upon, as were Walter Rauschenbusch, the Catholic Workers, and Oscar Romero, to assist others in their time of need. We have all experienced times when family members, friends, neighbors, and colleagues at work have sought our assistance in carrying their crosses. Peter could not accept this role at this particular hour, but after the resurrection, when he was transformed and converted to a fuller understanding of discipleship and its requirement to be present to others in their need, he was able to help. We cannot be present to all people at all times; we cannot shoulder the world. But we must be willing to assist others as good people we know have helped us in our time of need. Jesus tells us that when he returns in glory with the hosts of angels we will be repaid for our conduct.

Let us, therefore, reflect upon the reality of life, with its beauty and its pain. When obstacles and difficulty enter our lives, let us shoulder the cross and follow Jesus, giving our lives today in order to gain eternal life tomorrow. Let us, when we are able, assist our neighbor in shouldering his burden as did our four Christian champions. If we can it is certain that when Jesus calls us we will hear him say, "Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the beginning of time."