Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

“WE HAVE GIVEN UP EVERYTHING AND FOLLOWED YOU.” MK 10:28-31

Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.

Prayer Prompt before reading MK 10:28-31: Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray, interpret the Scriptures for me so that I may know the Truth about who God the Father and God the Son are so that I may know who I am.

The Scripture scholar’s side note for yesterday’s verses and today’s says, “Achievement of salvation is beyond human capability and depends solely on the goodness of God who offers it as a gift.”  Today, Peter asks what reward the disciples will receive for giving up everything and following Christ.  

Jesus reveals that we can obtain heaven on earth if we give up everything to follow Him, “a hundred times more now in this present age,” and “eternal life in the age to come.”  If we give up everything and put Christ first, even before our family and possessions, we can live heaven on earth now and gain eternal life.

In the Lord’s Prayer it says, “thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” If we die to self and put on Christ for the world, our reward is heaven on earth and eternal life.  If we give up everything and follow the Gospel, our reward is heaven on earth and eternal life.  

I cannot think of anything harder than fighting Satan, dying to self (killing my ego), growing in holiness, and putting God before family and possessions.  Interestingly, this is what we are made for. When we put God first, He helps put those other important people and things in right order and teaches us how to treat and use them properly.

As we learned yesterday, salvation is impossible to achieve as humans, we must have God’s grace. Put on the armor of God and be ready to fight and protect!  Cling to God with every fiber of your being, He will never abandon you. Repent, surrender to God, deny yourself, then fill yourself with His life in the Eucharist, confession, reading the Scriptures and living what you learned.

Today’s challenge: Every day is a gift, our lives are a gift, achieve holiness by doing whatever it takes to draw closer to Jesus one day at a time through prayer, fighting temptation and staying in the state of grace, and following the 10 commandments.

Be a servant, be a saint today!
#Christian YODO (You Only Die Once; We will live again!)