Today, we can contemplate Jesus on his way towards Jerusalem. There, He will offer his life for the salvation of our world. “Great crowds were traveling with Jesus” (Lk 14:25): the disciples, walking with Jesus, who precedes them, must learn to become new men. This is the final purpose of the instructions the Lord, in his ascent to the “City of peace”, exposes and proposes to those following him.

Disciple means “follower”. To follow the steps of the Master, to be like Him, to think like Him, to live like Him... The disciple coexists with the Master and accompanies him. The Lord teaches with facts and words. They have certainly seen Christ's attitude before the Absolute and the relative. They have heard him say quite often that God is the supreme value of our existence. They have admired the relation between Jesus and the celestial Father. They have seen the dignity and confidence, which Jesus displayed when praying to him. They have admired his radical poverty.

Today, the Lord speaks to us in clear-cut terms. Our Lord Jesus Christ must be loved by the true disciple with all his heart, well over all kinds of ties, even the closest ones: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26-27). In the follower's life, He is always the first one. St. Augustine says: “Let us reply to our father and to our mother: ‘I love you in Christ, not instead of Christ’.” In following Jesus even our love for life must rank as a second priority. To follow Jesus, after all, entails embracing the Cross. Without the Cross there is no disciple.

The evangelic call exhorts to prudence, that is, the virtue dictating our adequate behavior. Who wants to build a house must first find out whether he can face the expense. The king who must fight, after figuring out his own forces, decides whether to go to war or negotiate peace. He who wants to be a disciple of the Lord must first give up all his possessions. His own denial will be his best bet!