Friday 20th February, 2009
Day of penance
Genesis 11:1-9
Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own—Ps 32(33):10-15
Mark 8:34-9:1
Those who would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
In today's gospel, Jesus reminds his disciples of the selflessness required to be his follower and so to enter the kingdom of God. To journey with Christ, we are asked to put aside pride, status and possessions and see others as equal in the eyes of God. Equally frail yet powerful, equally alike yet unique. It can seem impossible for us to put our self-interest last, to leave the trappings of our comfortable life and carry our cross on our shoulders. Is this really what it takes to be a follower of Christ? It sounds so difficult!
We cannot take our wealth, credentials or lifestyle with us when our body ultimately fails. Such things have no value to God, who loves us for how we have served him, and how, in spite of rebuke and criticism, we have given of ourselves to others: the poor, the hungry, the excluded.
We have been given a simple but challenging itinerary: to travel light, to carry our cross each day, and to follow Jesus.
So we laugh at the world's pleasures, positions, and power. If we gain it all, we would gain nothing and destroy ourselves in the process (Mk 8:36).
We Christians may look like losers now, but the worst losers are those who lose their immortal souls forever.
Win now and lose everything later.
Lose now and rejoice forever in Heaven.
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