Friday, January 24, 2003
Friday, January 24, 2003
"Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."
Once he baptized a mountain chieftain. Saint Patrick was holding a staff--called a crosier--in
his
hands as the new converts made their way to the water. Unfortunately, as he was lowering the
chief down under the water three times, he also pressed his staff down into the river bottom.
Afterwards the people on the riverbank noticed their chief limp back to shore. Someone
explained to Patrick that, as he pressed the wooden staff into the riverbed, he must have also
bruised the foot of the chief. Patrick went to the chief at once and asked, "Why did you not cry
out when I struck your foot?"
Surprised, the chief answered, "I remembered you telling us about the nails in the cross, and I
thought my pain was part of my baptism." When I read that, I could not help but think how
many
of us would have been baptized if we knew pain was part of the process.
What cross is God call you to bear?
(Luke 14.27
NRSV)
Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was a very devout Roman Catholic evangelist. One of
the stories that grew out of his ministry concerns a time when he was baptizing new converts in
a river. He would wade out waist-deep into the water and call out for new Christians to come
to
him, one by one, to receive the sacrament.
Lord Jesus, help to carry the cross our Father is calling me to bear. Amen.
