How many crosses have been borne up and down in elevators of our buildings

   Jesus did not invent the cross. He, like every person, found it on his journey. The newness in his message was to plant the seed of love in our bearing of the Cross. The element of love turned the way of the Cross into a way that leads to life. The Cross itself became a message of love: a means of transformation. Our cross is also the Cross of Jesus!
This cross first embraces each of us, and entrusts us with a duty in our personal life, in our families, among our friends and acquaintances - in sum, with whoever else's cross we encounter. I think of the many broken
families, the many illnesses which have not been accepted, of hardened hearts which have become embittered, resenting and brooding. How many crosses have been borne up and down in elevators of our buildings. How many cross-bearers walk up and down our streets, populate our cities! There are crosses without a name, and often, without a hope. There are crosses of doom which, at best, are merely tolerated. Those who bear them live lives of quiet desperation and silent resignation.
    From His Cross, Jesus invites each of us today to put all these crosses, and not just our own, into relationship with his own. Jesus invites us to do as he did, plant the seed of love and hope in the soil of each of the crosses we encounter.
                                     - Carlo Maria Martini 
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