‘I Have Many Friends of My Table, But Few of My Cross’

[Stone]

‘I Have Many Friends of My Table, But Few of My Cross’
St. Louis Grignion de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, Part 1, nn. 11, 12.

In a world deliriously turned toward pride and sensuality, not excluding transhumanism and artificial intelligence that stems from a pride directly against God, and the sins of the flesh against nature, LGBT and all its deviants, the Letter to the Friends of the Cross by St. Louis Grignion de Monfrot is more timely than ever.

Indeed, the response to this madness is to not follow the tornado of scandals in which we live, but rather to become a friend of the Cross and follow the counsels of the Great Saint who taught us how to walk this path.

Today we bring to our readers an excerpt in which St. Louis de Montfort imagines Our Lord Jesus Christ addressing each one of us.

Dear Brethren, remember that our beloved Jesus has His eyes upon you at this moment, addressing you individually: “See how almost everybody leaves Me practically alone on the royal road of the Cross.

“Blind idol worshipers sneer at My Cross and brand it folly. Obstinate Jews are scandalized at the sight of it as at some monstrosity (1 Cor. 1:23). Heretics tear it down and break it to pieces out of sheer contempt.

“But one thing I cannot say without My eyes filling with tears and My heart being pierced with grief is that the very children I nourished in My bosom and trained in My school, the very members I quickened with My spirit, have turned against Me, forsaken Me and joined the ranks of the enemies of My Cross (Is 1:2; Phil:18).

“Would you also leave Me? (Jin 6: 68). Would you also forsake me and flee from My Cross, like the worldlings, who are acting as so many Antichrists? (1 Jn 2:12). Would you subscribe to the standards of the day (Rom 12:2), despise the poverty of My Cross and go in quest of riches; shun the sufferings connected with My Cross to run after pleasure; spurn the humiliations that must be borne with My Cross and pursue worldly honors?

“There are many who pretend that they are friends of Mine and love Me but in reality they hate Me because they have no love for My Cross. I have many friends of My table, but few indeed of My Cross.” (Imitation of Jesus Christ, Bk 2, Chap 11.)

In answer to the gracious invitation which Jesus extends, let us rise above ourselves. Let us not, like Eve, listen to the insidious suggestion of sense. Let us look up to the unique Author and Finisher of our faith, Jesus crucified (Heb 12:2). Let us fly from the corrupting concupiscence and enticements of a corrupt world (2 Pet 1:4). Let us love Jesus in the right way, standing by Him through the heaviest of crosses. Let us meditate seriously on these remarkable words of our beloved Master which sum up the Christian life in its perfection: “If any man will come after Me let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16,24).