Daily Homily

Yesterday we started the season of Lent in which we seek to renewal our life in Christ through the discipline of prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Today the gospel proposes to us even a more sublime discipline, and that is the discipline of the God-given cross. Jesus tells his disciples about what awaits him in Jerusalem. “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” He then turns to his disciples at tells them that they must follow his example. “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 does not focus on the cross alone, but he looks further to the victory of the resurrection. In the same way he invites us to contemplate what we have to do or to undergo, but not to stop at the painful part, but also to have the hope to see the victory that lies beyond the cross.

Carrying the uninvited crosses in our life does not replace our efforts to master our desires and to strengthen our will through the three traditional disciplines. On the contrary, the two forms of discipline complement each other. Fasting, almsgiving and prayer help us to gain the strength to carry our crosses and follow Jesus. They keep our attention turned towards God, so that we are able to accept the painful that comes our way as a channel of growth. On the other hand the God-given cross puts other forms of discipline into perspective. If we stopped at our self-imposed crosses success might result into pride and self-satisfaction while failure might lead us into discouragement. With the God-given cross however, we are purified and we are helped to grow from focusing on self to focusing on God.

Let us pray for the wisdom to choose life, by accepting the trials that God sends our way especially in this season of grace.