Readings of the day: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6; Luke 9:22-25
Moses says, “Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom… Obey the commandments of the LORD… Choose
life.” Does this task not seem simple enough? After all, who would knowingly
choose “death and doom” over “life and prosperity”?
If only it were this simple! And I do
not only mean that it can occasionally be difficult for us to keep God’s
commandments and so to “choose life.” Have not most if not all of us had
experiences of temptation: Peer pressure; social and cultural pressure to act
against what we know to be right, true, and life-giving? Have not likely all of
us experienced falling for temptation; into evil; into sinful actions or even habits?
Thankfully, when we fall into evil and sin, God is here, through one another;
through the Church; through the Sacraments, especially of the Eucharist and of
Reconciliation, to lift us up again. God is here to pardon us, if only we seek
God’s mercy continually and tirelessly.
But then, in our Gospel reading today, Jesus
says: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Jesus is not
contradicting Moses; saying that we should choose willingly to lose our lives;
choose death over life for his sake, is he?
No, at least I do not believe that Jesus
is saying this. Certainly our Church does not advocate endangering our lives purposely
for the sake of our Christian faith. Early in our Church’s history, when the
Roman Empire was persecuting Christians from time to time, and martyrdom, dying
for our faith, was the way to be
recognized as a saint (non-martyr saints began to be named only later), some
people had this confused idea. And so our Church condemned this idea that
Christians should actively put themselves in harm’s way for their faith.
This is not what Jesus meant by taking
up our cross and following him. What Jesus meant was and is still as
life-giving as Moses’ invitation to the people of Israel in his time: “Choose
life.” But how can this be?
Many of us, even right here in our St.
Kateri Parish community, bear crosses through little or no fault of our own: Questions
and doubts about our faith, family strife, financial difficulties, loss of
loved ones; illnesses both personal and within our families. Many more of us
sincerely seek to be forgiven by one another; by God. May we in this community
be God’s voice of healing; consolation; forgiveness to these people. Let us
pray for people in our world whose lives are still in danger because of their
faith.
Still others among us
bear crosses of which Jesus invites us to let go; to lay on him: Despair of
God’s mercy, for one. By supporting one another with our crosses; by building
up and forgiving one another any wrongs, and by laying before Jesus any
unnecessary crosses we bear, we can both “take up [our] cross daily and follow”
Jesus and follow the invitation of Moses to “choose life” for ourselves and for
our community of faith.
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