"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Friends, God is good, all the time. It was a cruel practice of the Romans that everyone condemned to crucifixion be compelled to carry the cross, on which he was to be hanged, to the place of execution. Surprisingly, Jesus applies the analogy of the cross in the gospel for the disciples, asking each disciple to carry his or her own cross to follow him.
The request from Jesus might have come as a terrible shock to the disciples who knew that Carrying the cross was the most repulsive experience anyone would wish to associate with. And yet, the critical thing for Jesus is not the cross but the manner of carrying it. The Romans compelled a person to accept it, but he is asking them to take it willingly. That is, they must cheerfully and patiently embrace all reproach, afflictions, persecutions, and death itself.
Jesus relate another extreme request to the one above: every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple. What does he mean by “all our possessions?” He is referring to our will, not our freewill. God gives us freewill to decide what to do, and he will not take it from us. However, abandoning all of one's possessions to become his disciples means giving your will entirely to him. This is not sentimental, but real renunciation.
All our material possessions, decisions, actions, and expressions emerge from the will. So it is in surrendering the will ultimately to God so that we do not choose to do what we want but what God desires that we can say that we have renounced everything to follow him.
Prayer blessings: The Angelus- The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary: And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word. Hail Mary... And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us. Hail Mary... Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord. Men. Today, find the time to pray the Angelus, which is said at 12 noon, 6 pm, and 6 am.