A Reflection for Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Find the readings here.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
In honor of World Marriage Day on Sunday, Feb. 9, our pastor read an excerpt from the “Exhortation Before Marriage” from the 1962 Roman Ritual at Mass. The exhortation describes marriage as “a life of self-sacrificing love like His own” and a relationship that is “most serious, because it will bind you together for life in a relationship so close and so intimate, that it will influence and direct your entire future from this day forward.”
Those words came to mind again as I read this week’s Gospel: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” It is very tempting to read Jesus’ invitation as one meant for a single moment. It is easy to think that, once we make a choice to follow Christ, we are set on a path from which we cannot veer.
But, as in marriage, discipleship is not developed in a single moment but rather it involves an ongoing commitment. And it’s something we choose over and over again with our actions and attention. So often we are like Peter, insisting we would never deny Christ. And yet how often do we fail to make small sacrifices that turn our lives toward him?
Discipleship is choosing to look at our child instead of our phone. It’s choosing to show kindness to a person who may annoy us. It’s standing up for the downtrodden when it’d be more comfortable to sit on the sidelines. It’s working to change unjust public policy, and making sure every voice is heard. These aren’t easy choices and we are not always consistent in making the right ones. But today’s Gospel serves as a reminder that discipleship also requires “a self-sacrificing love…that will influence and direct your entire future from this day forward.”
May we have the courage to follow Christ, wherever the path may lead.
