Word to the Wise
Friday, August 5, 2022 - Friday in the 18th Week in Ordinary Time
[Nah 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7 and Matt 16:24-28]"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 will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? [Matthew]
One of the important influences in my decision long ago to consider religious life as a vocation was the unhappiness of guys in the dormitory at college who were much wealthier than I. Although the Broadway musical, Sweet Charity, appeared a few years after I entered the Dominican Order, one of the songs from that musical sums up how I felt at the time: "There's gotta be something better than this!" Jesus offers that "something better" but it comes with challenges. (I hesitate to use the word "price" because faith is not a commodity!).. The challenge is the daily acceptance of the "cross."
In using the image of the cross, the evangelist Matthew may be using the image of Jesus' suffering in Jerusalem to describe the situation of the community at the time of the writing of the gospel. The daily cross of discipleship comes in many different forms. We Catholics have an old expression: "Offer it up!" when confronted with adversity or sacrifice. I do remember declining, as a matter of faith, certain invitations from those dormitory acquaintances! But the "cross" may involve matters of health or relationships. What seems hardest, in our culture, to give up, as a matter of faith, economic gain. Poverty is the cross of millions in this world, but it is imposed on them rather than chosen. The quest for economic gain is definitely in the cross-hairs of Jesus' words. In the Gospel According to Luke, we find the stories of the Rich Man and Lazarus and The Rich Fool (cf. last Sunday's gospel for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C).
The German Lutheran pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, murdered by the Nazis, wrote a little book that has become a classic: The Cost of Discipleship. I recommend it highly. What "cross" does our own discipleship require? Does it "cost" us anything at all? AMEN