Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers.
Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes.
Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”
Fr. Josep Mª MASSANA i Mola OFM (Barcelona, Spain)Today is the first Thursday of Lent. The ashes our Church placed on our foreheads yesterday are still fresh; and are meant to remind us of a forty days journey. In the Gospel, Jesus shows us two routes: the way of the cross He must undergo, and our own way to follow Him.
His path is the Way of the Cross and that of death, but also that of His Glory: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised” (Lk 9:22). The route we must take is, essentially, the same one Jesus took, and He shows us how to follow it: “If anyone wishes to come after me…” (Lk 9:23).
Hugging His Cross, Jesus complied with the Will of His Father; as for us, carrying ours on our shoulders, we follow Him in His Way of the Cross.
The path of Jesus is summarized in three words: suffering, dying, rising from the dead. Three aspects constitute our own footpath too (two attitudes and the essence of our Christian vocation): Self-Denial, taking up our cross every day of our life and following Jesus.
If we do not deny ourselves and do not take up our cross, we are only seeking to affirm and be ourselves; we want “to save our life”, as Jesus says. Yet, by wanting to save it, we will lose it. On the other hand, those who, because of Jesus, will not strive to avoid their suffering and the cross, will save their lives. It is the resulting paradox of our following Jesus: “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”(Lk 9:25).
Our Lord's words, closing today's Gospel, tremendously shook Saint Ignatius and sparked off his conversion: “What would happen if I would do just as Saint Francis and Saint Dominic did?” If only, in this Lent, the same words would help us to reach our conversion, too...!
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“Let us look steadfastly to the blood of Christ, and see how precious that blood is to God which, having been shed for our salvation, has set the grace of repentance before the whole world.” (Saint Clement of Rome)
“We cannot think about the Christian life apart from this journey that He first made. It is the journey of humility. For the Christian way of life without the cross is not in fact Christian, and if the cross is a cross without Jesus, it is not Christian.” (Francis)
“Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, (…) acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one's cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 1435)
