A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
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.”
Speaking to the disciples as well as to the crowds, Jesus addresses all who would hear him. It is a universal message spoken for the salvation of the whole world. The counterintuitive instruction to deny oneself and lose one’s life for the sake of saving it calls all into authentic relationship with God. Once in that relationship, having reached out toward him, the cross becomes the way to salvation. What is the purpose of this life unless it is to gain eternal life with the Father who made us? As the psalmist says, “From his fixed throne he beholds all who dwell on the earth, He who fashioned the heart of each, he who knows all their works.” Jesus’ call to holiness is universal because it is the Father who made the heart of each of us.
Help me understand, God, what it means to pick up my cross today. It is too great a scope for me to imagine what that means in days or weeks or years to come. Give me the grace today to recognize my cross and pick it up. Loving Father, teach me the way to gain everlasting life rather than forfeiting it on passing things. Lord, guide me today and give me the courage to come after you.
Thank you, Lord, for the call to follow you. When you come in the Father’s glory with the holy angels, may it be that I lived a life worthy of that call.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.