The Cross: A Hecker Reflection (?)

January 14, 2013

This is the thirty-ninth in a series of previously unpublished reflections from the 1854 spiritual notebook of Paulist Founder, Servant of God Father Isaac T. Hecker. The reflection series is being made public in conjunction with Father Hecker’s cause for canonization.

 

The Cross: A Hecker Reflection

Our Savior fell oftentimes under the excessive weight of his cross in order to show us that he has not called us to enjoy success but to support us in our adversity; to show us that as long as our cross does not exceed our strength, selfishness will always find room in us to conceal itself and live. For it is in the death of our selfishness that gives rise to divine love in our hearts. As St. John of Avila one said, “for it is selfishness that has given death to the love of God.”

Jesus Christ enjoined us to sell all we have and give it to the poor, if we would be his disciples. He also said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”  Everyone is supposed to have a cross.  Jesus does not ask us to get rid of it, but to take it up and follow him.

This is not a momentary work nor child’s play, to take up your cross, the weight of which surpasses our strength; to bear it and fall under it and bear it again. This is what you ask us Lord,  You invite us to follow you. It requires greater courage to follow Jesus Christ to the conquest of heaven than to follow Caesar to the conquest of the universe.

 

A Response from Father Paul Robichaud, CSP

I remember watching a television evangelist talk about how God wanted us to be materially prosperous. Having faith for this evangelist led to success and financial security was a sign of God’s blessing. Servant of God Isaac Hecker takes a very different position in today’s reflection. God’s will for us is that we should be happy and at peace. But happiness for Father Hecker means that in the difficult patches of our lives, God goes through these moments with us.  God is present and supports us when we face crisis and difficulty. If we have faith, no matter how hard our life may be, God is there. As Father Hecker says, if God in Jesus carried his cross, so we who follow him must do the same thing. The good news is that as we carry our cross, God who knows what it is like, because of Jesus, understands and walks with us.

Father Hecker adds another insight about the crosses in our lives. The weight of the cross in comparison of our strength to bear it, means that we have to depend on God’s strength and not our own. Twelve step programs start with the teaching, Let go, let God. The more we come to trust in the strength of God, the more we can let go of our illusion that we can make it by ourselves.   

 

Hecker’s 1854 Spiritual Notebook:

Servant of God, Isaac Hecker wrote these spiritual notes as a young Redemptorist priest about 1854 and they have never been published. Hecker was 34 years old at the time and had been ordained a priest for five years. He loved his work as a Catholic evangelist. The Redemptorist mission band had expanded out of the New York state, and the missionaries’ national reputation continued to grow. Hecker had begun to focus his attention on Protestants who came out to the missions. To this purpose Hecker began to write in 1854 his invitation to Protestant America to consider the Catholic Church, “Questions of the Soul” which would make him a national figure in the American church.

Hecker collected and organized these notes that include writings and stories from Saint Alphonsus Liguori, the Jesuit spiritual writer Louis Lallemant and his disciple Jean Surin, the German mystic John Tauler, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Theresa of Avila and Saint Jane de Chantal among others. These notes were a resource for his retreat work and spiritual direction. These short thematic reflections demonstrate Hecker’s growing proficiency in traditional Catholic spirituality some ten years after his conversion to the Catholic faith.

Publishing and disseminating the writing of Servant of God Isaac Hecker is the work of the Office for Hecker’s Cause.

Paulist Father Paul Robichaud CSP is Historian of the Paulist Fathers and Postulator of the Cause of Father Hecker. His office is located at the Hecker Center in Washington D.C.

If you have asked Father Hecker to pray for you or another person who is ill and you believe something miraculous has happened, please phone Father Robichaud at 202-269-2519 and tell him your story.