Profit

February 20, 2009

Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Then the LORD said: "If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do. Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says." Genesis 11:6-7

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life? Mark 8:36-37

Piety

The Cross Is
The cross is the hope of Christians.
The cross is the resurrection of the dead.
The cross is the way of the lost.
The cross is the savior of the lost.
The cross is the staff of the lame.
The cross is the guide of the blind.
The cross is the strength of the weak.
The cross is the doctor of the sick.
The cross is the aim of the priests.
The cross is the hope of the hopeless.
The cross is the freedom of the slaves.
The cross is the power of the kings.
The cross is the water of the seeds.
The cross is the consolation of the bondsmen.
The cross is the source of those who seek water.
The cross is the cloth of the naked.
We thank you, Father, for the cross. Amen.
(From www.CatholicOnline.org)

Study

Don’t get too comfortable.

Jesus says that following him has requires some special responsibilities. “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.” Mark 8:34-35

The quid pro quo of the Gospel is not found in taking up the tassels of the Pharisees nor in sitting at the place of honor during a meal. Do we have all the creature comforts – flat screen television, blu-ray DVD, surround sound home theatre that synchs with your Ipod? How about that nice Escalade with Garmin satellite GPS navigation system? The king size bed and down comforter? The 50-gallon hot water heater and central heating and air conditioning system? The latest Nike Air Jordans and GQ clothing?

As they say in Brooklyn, “Fuggettaboutit!” What difference is there if you have all these but do not live in Christ and in the Gospel? (As the Book of Mark progresses, we notice that Jesus more frequently equates himself with the Gospel).

Jesus says we have to deny all our own wants – when we want to satisfy our personal hungers and desires. Instead of picking up all this at the mall, Jesus wants us to pick up our cross – our burdens – and follow Him.

As the notes in the New American Bible explain: “Jesus challenges all believers to authentic discipleship and total commitment to himself through self-renunciation and acceptance of the cross of suffering, even to the sacrifice of life itself.”

We will never get what we need from the world that is full of Madoffs and Stanfords. We must seek out something better just as Jesus pointed out to Martha that Mary had chosen the “better” part.

Life without a commitment to the Good News is not a life fulfilled. It is like “a raisin in the sun.” The N.A.B. points out that life seen as mere self-centered earthly existence and lived in denial of Christ ends in destruction (see the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis today). When lived in full loyalty to Christ, despite earthly death, it arrives at fullness of life.

Action

Profit from your cross? What is your cross this week?

Are there medical issues causing you and your family distress?

Are there economic issues shaking your confidence?

Are you wound up tightly over political issues?

Or perhaps something at school – those tests, applications, and teachers – is wearing you down.

Embrace your human condition and offer it back to the Lord. Be a Cyrenian to someone else…help them carry their cross, too.