Three Reflections on the Crosses we bear

Source" Blog Toronto
1: The cross we don’t choose

there are some crosses
that we choose
those crosses we can usually
afford to bear…

There are the crosses
we don’t choose
the ones life pushes us
to bear…

those are not just crosses
they also hurt our free will
and prove to be heavier
by making us more vulnerabl

of course, every cross has its worth
every cross tests our vulnerability
but the crosses we don’t choose
seem to be more testing and heavier!

2: Feeling inefficient 

What to do when we’re taken over
by that feeling of inefficiency
that feeling of uselessness
even after doing our part?

Should we try to do more
to appease ourselves
and convince ourselves
of a kind of efficiency?

When the feeling of emptiness continues …
is it that important to fight it
and chase after the good feeling about ourselves
in a pursuit of delight in what we’ve accomplished?

What if it is a cross…
what if we should bear patiently
that uncomfortable feeling of emptiness
which still lingers after we’ve given it all?

What to do when that feeling remains
despite having poured all our efforts into the work…
can this be a kind of cross…
can this really be a cross?

Maybe the most important thing
to keep us going
is to keep in mind that
“in the Lord, your labour is not in vain.”

3: Fasting from the control-freak inclination

A friend of mine decided that for Lent this year, he would give up or at least try to give up
 on his tendency to have control on every tiny aspect of his life. It’s not a bad thing, he explained,
 to care about almost every single detail of his daily activities. However, he said, his tendency 
to have everything under his careful attention, every aspect of his life thoroughly planned 
doesn’t show a willingness to make room for God and give God some control over his life. 
He then decided that a good Lent resolution for him should be to let go of 
some of his constant inclination to be at the control center of his life. 
As he put it, “for this Lent, I want to share with God the air traffic control 
center of my life. I would starve my control-freak way of life and be more open to God”. 
To which I responded: “We all need to do that type of fasting”.

Dodzi Jean-Antoine Amemado is a university scholar. He also works with the Federal Government in Ottawa.

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3 Comments
  • Philip Shano
    Posted at 09:27h, 09 April Reply

    Dodzi, Thank you for your recent Lenten reflections. It helps me and others to deepen our relationship with God in our lives. Blessings on you, as we enter into Holy Week!

  • Vicky Chen
    Posted at 11:14h, 09 April Reply

    Fasting from being a control freak!! What a great idea!! This is particularly true for those of us planning music for the liturgies……

    I will only try to fast during Lent!! Need a lot of grace to continue after Easter. 🙂

  • Peter Bisson
    Posted at 00:32h, 10 April Reply

    Thank you Dodzi!

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