His cross...

 (this is the verse just before the Transfiguration from yesterday...)

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves 
 and take up their cross and follow me. 
 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,
 but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, 
 yet forfeit their soul? 
 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 
 the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, 
 and then he will reward each person according to what they have done."
                                                        Matthew 17:24

entering the church on campus last night 
for evening prayer and Mass 
 [in the little warm side chapel with the brothers
  instead of the big old cold church by our apartment]

I look up at Christ hanging over the entry
and I wonder where is His cross

is the church...
are we...His cross
or have we...taken up His cross...

and then being in that little chapel with the handful of brothers
Brother Andre, the campus chaplain... being the youngest at eighty
and the ninety year old celebrant
made me pause and think about this life
we are alive 
not for ourselves 
but for one another...

Community is the fruit of our capacity 
to make the interests of others
more important than our own 
                            Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, 
if any comfort from his love,
if any fellowship with the Spirit, 
if any tenderness and compassion, 
then make my joy complete 
by being like-minded, having the same love, 
being one in spirit and purpose.  
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, 
but in humility consider others 
better than yourselves.  
Each of you should look not only to your own interests 
but also to the interests of others."  
                                                      - Philippians 2: 1-5