Word to the Wise
Friday, February 21, 2014 - Friday in the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jas 2:14-24, 26 and Mark 8:34-9:1]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. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life.
Nowadays one may hear the expression, "Get a life!" It is usually directed at someone who is caught up in matters that don't seem important at the time! The words of Jesus in today's gospel scripture seem to be a version of that expression, but not an attractive one! Who wants to carry a cross? What is considered a "life" worth living? Is it the one that appears in the millions of ads that exhort us to buy, buy, buy and consume, consume, consume? Is it the life of multiple contacts on Facebook or other social media? All of this is focused on the "here and now" and nothing else is valuable.
If we are constantly focused on "saving ourselves" by accumulation or consumption, Jesus promises us that we will actually "lose" ourselves. At first glance this may seem a paradox, but I have seen it in the situations of many people either in counseling or in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They have "everything" and realize that none of it makes them happy!
Perhaps the first "cross" that Jesus offers us is the cross of turning away from an empty quest for an illusory material happiness. There may be other "crosses" after that one, but they will make more sense to us once we pick up that first one. Jesus not only tells us, "Get a life!" but he is willing to give us that "life!" AMEN