FRIDAY, EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Nah 2:1,3; 3:1-3,6-7 Dt 32:35-36,39,41 Mt 16: 24-28
CARRYING YOUR CROSS
The Greek word for the word ‘Disciple’ is ‘mathetes’ which means a ‘learner’ or ‘follower’. In this sense a disciple is called to accept and follow the views and practices of their teacher. Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, popularly known as Edith Stein. She was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite nun. She died in the gas chamber the same day that she arrived at the camp at Auschwitz on 9 August 1942. She suffered and died for Christ and his people. Her life should be a great inspiration to us – as a disciple of Christ, we are all called to suffer the way He suffered.
In today’s gospel, Jesus gives us a different way to find life; “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.” To find life, we have to lose it by self-denial and take up the crosses that come our way. How can we find life in this manner? It might be true that if we deny ourselves and follow Jesus in carrying our crosses, we will be assured of eternal life. Indeed, only when we destroy our selfishness and remove sins from our life can we be ready to meet the Lord. By living a disciplined life, a life of mortification, we can experience great joy.
The joy of a mortified life is different from that of the world. In the same way too, although carrying the cross and practicing mortifications is not a pleasurable thing in itself, yet it brings joy and lasting joy. As the first reading says, it brings peace. Mortification and penance increase our capacity to love; strengthen our will, discipline the use of our senses, keeping them in control. In the context of the Israelites in exile, such words gave them encouragement; that God will restore Israel. Indeed, as Helen Keller said, “Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
Response: It is I who deal death and give life.
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