 "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me." - Matthew 10:38
Take up your cross. But take up THREE crosses? These crosses are HUGE. They've even been described as "colossal." The tempered-steel crosses were erected by a church along I-75 in Tennessee in 2013. The center cross is 125 feet tall and the other two crosses are each 100 feet tall. The crosses are meant to give the church an identity to people passing on the highway. Back in 2013, it was estimated that seventy-five thousand cars pass the site on the east side of I-75 every day. The project didn't happen overnight, though. It was in the works for eight years. The Tennessee Department of Transportation was consulted about how far away the crosses should be from the highway in the unlikely case they fell. The Federal Aviation Administration was notified in case there were any potential height restrictions. Balloons were even raised to determine the best visibility of the crosses for passers-by. The cross is our identity as well. Despite all the planning, the pitfalls, the consultations, and the wait, we will be seen and identified by the cross we carry, and how well we carry it. Whether one cross, or three crosses, and whether seen by one or seventy-five thousand, our cross is a colossal statement of Christ's sacrifice and God's love for all mankind. Take up your cross and follow Him. TAGS: Reflection, Story  “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3:19
On Ash Wednesday, we may hear these words while ashes are crossed onto our forehead. A young person may be confused by this phrase. “Of course we aren’t ACTUALLY dust," he may think. "When I get cut, I bleed blood, not dust! I am made out of flesh and bone!” Do you think this way? Do you see Lent as any other period of 40 days: normal? You may think there is nothing extraordinary about Lent except that it is the time leading up to Easter. Sure, you give up chocolate and don’t eat meat on Fridays, but that is it. But really think about what exactly the implications of these words are. “Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” – Genesis 2:7 Dust is natural. It exists as the substance of inception of all mankind. By the will of the Father, through the working of the Holy Spirit, we were given life out of the dust. We often think of dust as the substance that flies through the air or sits on our dresser, not the substance from which we come. Yet God, in his Infinite Love, gave it meaning by transforming dust into our very beings, into humanity. Dust calls us to conversion. It reminds us of our beginning and our end—of our smallness, but also of the greatness of our God. We are invited to see ourselves as dust again, to detach ourselves from the things of this world and empty ourselves so that we might be filled instead with God’s ‘breath of life.’ By contemplating our beginning and end, we are better able to focus on the eternal life offered by Christ and the resurrection to which we are called. SOURCE: Excerpted from https://www.catholicapostolatecenter.org/blog/remember-you-are-dust TAGS: Reflection |
Author
"Looking at little life moments with a spiritual eye." Archives
June 2026
Categories
|
RSS Feed
