Friday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time
Our Lady of Sorrows
Following yesterday's readings, today's gospel presents Jesus making quite clear being "the Christ," as Peter identified him in the previous reading, will entail great cost: suffering, torture and death. At the same time Jesus is teaching his followers that discipleship in his "army" will mean the very same. Suffering will be a predominant theme as Jesus moves toward the fulfillment of his mission. To the disciples he points out the following specifics that apply to us today in our lives, in our seeking to be true to our baptismal vocation to follow the Lord Jesus:
1) You must deny yourself: we have to bear different crosses as Jesus carried his crosses.
2) You must be willing to lose you life for the gospel: few are actually called to be martyrs in the physical sense but there are many instances even today of psychological martyrdom. Consider those who speak up for the marginalized in society; those who speak out strongly and without hesitation about the sin of abortion; consider those who have lost their homes or jobs at this time in their lives and the worries it brings to them in raising a family.
3) You must keep the value of your "life:" the meaning of "life" here is one's true self. How challenging each day is that we remain true to ourselves. Speaking truthfully is become a genuine challenge in today's culture, isn't it? How many think that the "little white lie" doesn't lay the foundation for a life of serious duplicity?
These "sayings" of Jesus are invitations that make clear that to follow Jesus will be at times nothing less than great sacrifice. Again, as we make ready our hearts and our intentions for the Lenten season, we might consider this first class of schooling for the disciples as prescriptions that God offers us to remove whatever ills may be in our hearts, those darn demons that prevent us from being lose to Jesus.
1) You must deny yourself: we have to bear different crosses as Jesus carried his crosses.
2) You must be willing to lose you life for the gospel: few are actually called to be martyrs in the physical sense but there are many instances even today of psychological martyrdom. Consider those who speak up for the marginalized in society; those who speak out strongly and without hesitation about the sin of abortion; consider those who have lost their homes or jobs at this time in their lives and the worries it brings to them in raising a family.
3) You must keep the value of your "life:" the meaning of "life" here is one's true self. How challenging each day is that we remain true to ourselves. Speaking truthfully is become a genuine challenge in today's culture, isn't it? How many think that the "little white lie" doesn't lay the foundation for a life of serious duplicity?
These "sayings" of Jesus are invitations that make clear that to follow Jesus will be at times nothing less than great sacrifice. Again, as we make ready our hearts and our intentions for the Lenten season, we might consider this first class of schooling for the disciples as prescriptions that God offers us to remove whatever ills may be in our hearts, those darn demons that prevent us from being lose to Jesus.
