“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again” (John 12:27-28). The Father's name is an extension of His Person. The Son's death completes the purpose of the Father and shows His love for all, thus glorifying Him. Christ is in effect saying, “Father, lead Me to the Cross.” This is the Lord's divine response to the human prompting to avoid the Cross (v. 27).” (Orthodox Study Bible, John 12:28)
“Christ is not “killed” on the Cross: He lays down His life on the Cross. This is a very different thing.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“For the Christian, the cross gradually becomes lighter and more joyful, while for the nonbeliever it becomes heavier and more burdensome. Why is this so? Because where the one carries their cross with faith and devotion to God, the other carries it with grumbling and anger.” (St. Innocent of Alaska)
“If we embrace our cross in life and bear it with faith, hope, and love, we are choosing to die to ourselves and Christ promises that we will be transformed in this life and gain our lives forever (John 12:24-25). If we reject our cross and try to avoid it and become bitter and angry, we will never become what we should be. Joy will elude us and life and death will be a very different experience compared to those who accepted their cross.” (Sacramental Living Blog)
“Yet that which calls us forward is love: the love God has shown us, and the love the heart desires to return to Him. So accept your little cross out of love, and do not become disheartened when pains and struggles accompany the life to which we are called.” (Bishop Irenei Steenberg)
"We all have our demons and our crosses to bear... Sometimes it is hard to take a deep down look at ourselves. We may not want to carry the cross or acknowledge it exists. We may want to keep it safely hidden from sight. However, we all have across. It might be alcohol addiction, or drug addiction, or sexual addiction, or workaholism. It might be perfectionism or impatience or feeling of superiority. We all have an "-ism..." (Deacon and Fellow Pilgrim)
“As Christ had His cross, we too have inherited our own…the cross can come to us in various ways. For some their cross might be a tragic life-threatening illness to deal with, while others might have what are seemingly less significant one's of day to day issues and ordeals, such as dealing with ethical dilemmas and gossip. Whether your cross might be being falsely labeled by people or to be persecuted unjustly, the fact remains, that all of us have a cross or many crosses to bear. We don't know why we are given a particular cross as opposed to our neighbors - but we do know that the will of God cannot lead us to where the grace of God will not keep us.” (Andrew Georganas)
“The young man was at the end of his rope. Seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees in prayer. "Lord, I can't go on," he said "My cross is too heavy to bear." The Lord replied, "My son, if you cannot bear its weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then open another door and pick out any cross you wish." The man was filled with relief. "Thank you, Lord," he sighed, and did as he was told. As he looked around the room, he saw many different crosses, some so large the tops were not visible. Then he spotted a tiny cross leaning against a wall. "I'd like that one, Lord," he whispered. And the Lord replied, "My son, that's the cross you came in with." (Author Unknown)
“During our life we face moments of hardship. The obstacles before us test our faith, we too often have a cross to bear. We become like one of the two thieves crucified with our Lord: either we are impatient and demanding or we remain faithful and obedient to God and His teachings.” (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese)
“When Christ asks us to pick up our cross and follow Him, He means that we crucify ourselves from the temptations of this world. We resist all its temptations: individualism, pride, gambling, drunkenness, gluttony, hatred, jealousy. Following Christ will not get us the richness of this world, but we become the sons and the daughters of God.” (Matthew Budiharjo)