The cross in the culture of dialogue

For Christian life to be authentic it must have the cross. The authentic Christian who lives in dialogue must therefore carry his/her cross daily (Lk 9:23). Where then in dialogue can we have the cross?

There are four ways by which we engage in dialogue: by being a good neighbor (dialogue of life), by engaging in group efforts of common concerns (dialogue of collaboration), by mutual exchange in doctrinal understanding (dialogue of experts), and by mutual sharing of spiritual experiences (dialogue of faith life). But can the cross become part of these four ways of dialogue?

Yes: By the difficulty of quality presence in the dialogue of life; by the difficulty of quality listening with the heart in the dialogue of collaboration; by the difficulty of quality openness in the dialogue of experts; by the difficulty of quality humility in the dialogue of faith life.

So we might say as a consequence: in the promotion of the culture of dialogue and in the four ways of dialogue engagement, no one matures to perfection without the difficult quality of being present, attentive, open and humble. To have quality in one’s behavior is similar to the cross of fulfilling a heavy obligation of self-possession of a perfect human being like Jesus Christ.