“WHAT PROFIT IS THERE FOR ONE TO GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND FORFEIT HIS LIFE?” MK 8:34-9:1
Humbly submit your will God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
What could one give in exchange for his life?
Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words
in this faithless and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will be ashamed of
when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
He also said to them,
“Amen, I say to you,
there are some standing here who will not taste death
until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.” MK 8:34-9:1
After Jesus reveals His identity as God and tells His apostles He will die and rise in three days, He doesn’t sugarcoat what we must do to be His follower and enter the Kingdom of heaven. Andrew, the first apostle, runs after Jesus and Jesus asks an important question after the Baptism of the Lord, “What are you looking for?” At this point, Jesus has performed many miracles and fed thousands with 7 loaves and a few fish. The Apostles still don’t understand who He is and in Thursday’s Gospel Jesus asks an important question, “Who do people say that I am?” He separates Himself from the prophets and Peter answers correctly, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Bishop Barron says, “You are Christian if you agree with Peter and you are not Christian if you don’t”.
Pope Francis talked about Christian hope in His Wednesday catechesis 3 years ago in which he teaches us that Christian hope is born in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Either Jesus died and rose or He is a liar. If He did not rise, St. Paul says, “Our faith and teaching is in vain.” Jesus says, “Either you gather with me or scatter.” There is no in between. Jesus forces us to make a decision. The truth is, following Jesus is hard. We have to go through hard and boring if we want to get to heaven. It requires sacrifice. Life is difficult and messy.
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.”
Why do we have to deny ourselves? We have inherited a fallen human nature. A broken relationship with the Father. We have an ego that must be denied. Our ego is the thing in us that tells us to be selfish (I will get whatever I want and I will push everyone to the sides that get in my way). Oh, how many times I have followed my own desires instead of the Lord’s.
What cross? Our daily crosses. Everyone suffers. It is relative to the situation your are dealt in life, but everyone suffers. Jesus gives purpose to our suffering and daily crosses, we can offer them up and receive grace which is necessary to reach heaven. It is impossible to be holy without God’s grace. Therefore, Jesus calls us to lose our life to save it. We are called to become suffering servants like the Master Suffering Servant.
When we believe Jesus resurrected and everything He says is true, we come to His feet each day in the Gospels to learn how to be a good and faithful servant. He asks us to lose our life for the sake of the Gospel. Our suffering has purpose and the saints even looked for ways to suffer more. Why? Suffering offered up atones for sins and fills us with God’s grace.
Jesus gave all. We could never even come close to paying Him back. He paid the ultimate sacrifice to save you and me. He continues to sacrifice today to stay with us hidden behind bread and wine, so that we will have spiritual food for the journey. He forgives when we are truly sorry and have fallen. Each time we fall and go through suffering, we become stronger and closer to Him. He strengthens us, never leaves us, always forgives, and is waiting daily for an invitation to be with us in our suffering.
Last, and most importantly, the greatest way to follow Jesus is by being detached from material things. ”What profit is there to gain the whole world but forfeit one’s life.” We are so distracted by what matters most. It takes daily submission to God’s will, prayer, silence, bringing ourselves to the sacraments, and continual learning and instruction by Jesus in the Gospels to stay focused on our purpose in life.
We are human and we quickly forget. We are a mystery to ourselves. We need a rock solid never changing Truth to come back to so we do not get off the beaten track. I need Him constantly throughout my day. He has left us with the Holy Spirit to help us understand His Truths and pass them on to others. How shallow is our faith if we cannot pray in public and dialogue with others what we believe.
“Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words
in this faithless and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will be ashamed of
when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Ouch! I have a lot of work to do! If we believe in the resurrection of Jesus which makes all of His Words True, we must begin to live in our hearts and minds like Christ. If we want to follow Him, we must die to self, offer up our daily crosses, strengthen our faith through His teachings, put on the Armor of God, and begin to fight Satan and grow in holiness! It is impossible to follow Him, without His grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. ”Come to me all who are heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” “My heart is restless until it rests in You.” Amen.
Today’s challenge: Lent is coming up, make a commitment to grow in holiness, fight Satan, and make time to pray and reflect on the Scriptures. How bad do you want it?
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
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