Men and women respond to the cross differently

Men and women respond to the cross differently, due to the nature which God has lovingly established by the complementarity of the sexes.

The Blessed Mother followed her beloved Son down the Via Dolorosa with unsearchable pity mysteriously sharing in His passion, as a sword pierced her immaculate heart. Saint Veronica met Him also with a great display of visceral compassion, wiping His bludgeoned brow with her veil. Likewise, the women of Jerusalem wept for Him profusely bringing forth from the suffering Savior words of consolation - for them and their children.

The one man who appears prominently in the carrying of the Redeemer's cross was compelled not by pity but by duty. The Romans forced the task on Saint Simon of Cyrene who, complying with their order carried the Lord's cross the final distance to Golgotha when Christ could bear it alone no more.

To women, the man might appear callous, unmoved by so great suffering, and indifferent to the condemned Messiah's plight. Yet to men, he showed his union with Christ by his wordless deed, accompanied by no emotion that the Evangelists record in the Gospels.

To men, the weeping women may seem too overcome by the cruel treatment of the Son of God to do anything worthwhile other than to weep or wipe His sacred brow. Yet both of these perspectives are skewed if accepted as such.

The woman is the heart of humanity, especially in her maternal role as nurturer and consoler. Her deeds are often taken for granted as they are performed so often in obscurity in the home. Yet her hands rock the cradle and in her turn, shape the world.

The man is bound to conquer his passions in order to protect and provide for his dependents, ruled by reason and not emotion. Failure in his duties results in the collapse of civilization itself.

Yet today we are bombarded by ubiquitous messages that demand men feel what women feel and that women rule, lead, and control men. What disorder and chaos results from such expectations!

Women, do not despise the man's way of carrying the cross of duty as though he had no choice in the matter. Men, honor the woman who suffers so deeply in the interior life, knowing that she is carrying the cross no less courageously than us.

Both the women and St. Simon show us the differences between the sexes in bearing our cross, without which we cannot be saved. Let us thank God for these differences, rejoice in the way they compliment each other in sublime symmetry, and resist the spirit of this age that demands conformity to unnatural and unreasonable expectations.

Originally posted 15 October 2019