Quotes of the Day for April 18, 2025 – Thoughts on His cross and our cross
- Michael Haldas
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
“To be made in the image of God is a sign of highest dignity; so high, in fact, that outside of Christ no human being can even be said to fully exist, properly speaking. To repeat, to be made in the image of God–of Christ–means that we are made in the image of the Crucified One.” (Timothy G. Patitsas)
“Christ prayed the night before His crucifixion, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) He ascended the Cross in free obedience, and no one forces us to take up our crosses either. Many problems and pains come upon us without our asking for them in this life, even to the point of death, and it is so easy to refuse to suffer in a spiritually health way. As Job’s wife suggested, we can “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) in response to losses, obstacles, and disappointments. We can refuse to offer our wounds to Christ for healing by ignoring them or convincing ourselves that we are still better off spiritually than the people we like to condemn. Of course, doing so will simply fuel our passions, blind us with spiritual pride, and corrupt our relationships with others. No one can keep us from refusing to take up our crosses, as freedom is an intrinsic dimension of being in God’s image.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“…the one who follows after Christ with his cross is free of all pride and self-interest. Just as the sick man takes bitter medicine not to show that he is capable of swallowing such bitter medicine, but in order to be healed, so the true Christian denies himself, that is, disdains his sick nature, takes up his cross as bitter but salvific medicine and follows after Christ, his Doctor and Savior—not for the sake of human praise and glory, but in order to save his soul from deadly madness in this world, and from the worm and fire in the next world.” (St. Nikolai Velimirovic)
“…this is the only true measure of our love for God: How much are we willing to endure for Him? What humiliations, sufferings, and trials are we capable of bearing, both in body and soul, for the Savior? Today, a different trend has emerged in the Christian world—a desire to twist the Gospel in such a way that one can call himself a Christian while living a life of comfort, avoiding any self-denial or suffering. It’s a Gospel that makes it unnecessary to endure any hardship, allowing one to enter paradise simply because they have chosen to call themselves a Christian. But it does not work that way, because in paradise, there is no one who has not been crucified.” (Metropolitan Luke Kovalenko)
“And one more important clarification related to this phrase—take up your cross. Don’t invent crosses for yourself that belong to others. There is an old parable about a man who found life unbearably difficult and began asking God to change his cross. God brought him to a field filled with many crosses and said, “Choose any one.” The man walked around for a long time. One cross was small but dug painfully into his back. Another wasn’t heavy, but he couldn’t hold it in his hands. A third was beautiful, but he lacked the strength to lift it. Finally, the man found a cross, and when he looked at the inscription, he saw that it was very the cross he had before. So, don’t seek out what is not yours, and don’t invent ascetic labors that you won’t in reality find in your life. Instead, do what is required of you, as God sends it to you in this life. And that will be the cross-bearing that places you alongside the Cross of Christ.” (Archpriest Maxim Kozlov)
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