Session 13: Morning - Accept the Pruning

Good morning, my friend, and welcome to Day 5. During the past four days, we have practiced living in God's presence, listening with the ear of the heart, walking in humility, and turning our work into prayer.

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Today, we come to something none of us can avoid: the Cross. Every human life includes suffering. Disappointment. Loss. Rejection. Illness. Failure. Loneliness. Aging. Difficult relationships. Plans that fall apart. People we love who suffer. People we love who eventually leave us. Christianity does not pretend these things are easy. Jesus never promised His followers a life without suffering. Instead, He entered suffering Himself and showed us that suffering does not have to be meaningless. Today is not about searching for pain or pretending that suffering is good. It is about learning what to do with the crosses that are already part of our lives. The monk does not escape the difficulties of being human by entering a monastery. He brings himself with him. His weaknesses, disappointments, temptations, fears, and struggles come through the monastery door too. Monastic life teaches him not simply to run from every difficulty, but to ask how God may be working within it. So find a quiet place. Put your phone aside. Sit comfortably. Take a slow breath. [PAUSE - 10 SECONDS] And another. [PAUSE - 10 SECONDS] Today may touch something tender in your life. Do not force anything. Simply bring yourself honestly before God.

The Vine and the Branches

Our Scripture this morning comes from John 15. Jesus says: “I am the vine, you are the branches.” He tells His disciples that a branch cannot bear fruit by itself. It must remain connected to the vine. Then Jesus uses an image that can be uncomfortable. He speaks about pruning. Anyone who has cared for a vine, tree, or garden understands pruning. Parts are cut away so that the plant can become healthier and bear more fruit. If you did not understand gardening, pruning might look destructive. Why cut something that is growing? But the gardener sees what the casual observer does not. Some things must be removed for new growth to happen. Our lives can contain their own forms of pruning. Something we wanted does not happen. A door closes. A relationship changes. We lose something we thought we needed. A failure exposes a weakness. We are forced to slow down. Something we relied upon disappears. We would rarely choose these experiences. Yet sometimes, looking back years later, we discover that a painful season changed us in ways comfort never could.

Five Minutes of Silence

We will now enter five minutes of silence. Today, I want you to bring one difficulty into the silence with you. It does not have to be the greatest suffering of your life. Choose something you are carrying now. Perhaps a disappointment. A worry. A difficult relationship. Something you cannot control. A loss. A fear about the future. A situation you wish were different. Do not try to solve it during these five minutes. Do not ask why it happened. Simply acknowledge it before God. You might begin by saying: “Lord, this is what I am carrying.” Then name it quietly. After that, let the words stop. Sit with God and allow Him to sit with you in what you are carrying. [SILENCE - 5 MINUTES]

You Do Not Have to Understand Everything

Slowly return your attention to where you are. One of the hardest things about suffering is that we want explanations. Why did this happen? Why did God allow this? Why this person? Why now? Why me? Sometimes answers become clearer with time. Sometimes they do not. Faith does not require us to pretend we understand everything. Even Scripture contains people crying out to God with questions. The Psalms are filled with them. Jesus Himself, on the Cross, prays words from Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Christianity gives us permission to bring our pain honestly to God. You do not have to call something good when it is painful. You do not have to pretend a loss does not hurt. You do not have to smile through suffering. The Cross tells us something much more powerful: God enters suffering with us.

Saint Benedict and the Third Degree of Humility

In Chapter 7 of the Rule, Saint Benedict describes the third degree of humility as submitting ourselves in obedience for the love of God, following the example of Christ. At first, that can sound distant from our everyday lives. But underneath it is the practice we began on Day 3: surrendering our insistence that life must always happen according to our will. Suffering often confronts us with things we cannot control. We did not choose them. We do not want them. Yet they are here. Humility asks: “How will I respond to the reality before me?” This does not mean remaining in abuse, refusing medical care, tolerating injustice, or failing to change circumstances that should and can be changed. Christianity does not ask us to seek unnecessary suffering. But there are crosses we cannot simply remove. In those moments, the question changes from “How do I escape this immediately?” to “How can I carry this faithfully?”

What Is Your Cross Today?

We sometimes imagine a cross must be something dramatic. Often it is not. Your cross today may be patience with someone difficult. It may be caring for someone when you are tired. It may be loneliness. It may be forgiving someone who hurt you. It may be admitting a mistake. It may be resisting a temptation. It may be accepting that your body cannot do what it once did. It may be uncertainty about your future. It may be continuing to do the right thing when no one notices. It may be a responsibility you cannot abandon. It may simply be getting through a difficult day without allowing bitterness to take over. Ask yourself now: “What is the cross already present in my life today?” [SILENCE - 1 MINUTE] Do not choose a new suffering. Identify the one that is already there.

Journaling: The Cross I Will Carry Today

Take out your journal or notebook. At the top of the page write: DAY 5 - THE CROSS. Underneath it write: “The cross I will carry today is…” Then finish the sentence. Be specific. Maybe it is a person who requires patience. Maybe it is something you are afraid of. Perhaps it is a disappointment you keep resisting. Maybe it is a responsibility you wish belonged to someone else. Then underneath it write a second sentence: “Today, I will carry this with Christ by…” How could you carry it differently? With less complaining? More patience? More prayer? By asking for help? By forgiving? By accepting what you cannot change? By taking one courageous step toward something that can be changed? Write for a few minutes now. [JOURNALING SILENCE - 3 MINUTES]

Carrying the Cross Does Not Mean Carrying It Alone

There is something important I want you to remember today. Jesus tells us to take up our cross, but Christianity never teaches that we must carry every burden alone. On the road to Calvary, even Jesus accepted help carrying His Cross when Simon of Cyrene was pressed into service. Sometimes humility means allowing another person to help us. If your burden is too heavy, speak to someone you trust. Ask for help. Pray with someone. Seek wise counsel. If a situation requires professional help, receive it. There is no virtue in pretending you are stronger than you are. The Cross teaches surrender, but it also teaches relationship. We carry one another. Perhaps today you are the person who needs help. Perhaps you will encounter someone else carrying a cross and you can become their Simon of Cyrene. Pay attention.

Closing Prayer

Let us finish our morning in prayer. Heavenly Father, You know the crosses I carry, including the ones no one else sees. You know the things I wish were different. You know my disappointments, fears, losses, frustrations, and unanswered questions. I do not understand everything that happens in my life, and I do not pretend that suffering is easy. But I believe that You do not abandon me in it. Help me remain connected to Christ, the true vine. When life prunes away something I wanted to keep, give me the faith to trust You even when I cannot yet see what You are doing. Give me courage to change what should be changed, patience to endure what cannot yet be changed, and wisdom to know the difference. Keep me from bitterness. Keep me from despair. Keep me from believing that I must carry everything alone. Give me humility to receive help and compassion to help carry the burdens of others. Today, I place my cross beside the Cross of Jesus. Teach me how to carry it with Him. Amen.

Remain silent for one final minute. During this silence, picture the cross you identified today. You do not need to like it. You do not need to understand it. Simply place it before Christ and say: “Jesus, help me carry this with You.” [SILENCE - 1 MINUTE] When you are ready, begin your day. Do not go searching for suffering. Life will provide enough of its own. Instead, when today's difficulty appears, recognize it. Pause. Remember Christ. And rather than immediately asking, “How can I get out of this?” sometimes ask another question: “How can I walk through this with Jesus?” We will meet again at midday, when we will look at the hidden crosses found in ordinary trials and learn how even small suffering can become an offering of love.