Saturday, June 18, 2016

Reflection for Sunday June 19, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 9:18-24

Gospel: Luke 9:18-24
Once when Jesus was praying by himself, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.” He scolded them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

He said, “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.”

Then he said to all, “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.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Do you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus and are you willing to suffer for Jesus?

Our personal relationship and knowledge about Jesus is always brought about by the frequency and intensity of our prayer life. For example, the more that we incorporate prayer in our daily lives the more that Jesus becomes clearer to us and the more also that we become closer to Him.

It is in this process of being close to Jesus that we allow ourselves to suffer for Him.  Not suffer for the sake of suffering but to suffer joyfully for Him and for His people.

 For example, if we help and give food to those who are in need our pockets will suffer. When we give our priceless time and energy for the sake of the people of God our bodies will suffer for the simple reason that we will be tired. But the true joy and fulfillment of this kind of suffering is unfathomable.

Jesus in the gospel invites us all to have this prayerful life, to emulate Him who always pray to the Father in solitude. In the process of our prayerful life the true identity of Jesus will crystallize in our lives. And without us knowing it we are already sharing Him by the way we live.

We will surely suffer if we follow, share and live Jesus. However, let us not be afraid of this kind of suffering since this kind of suffering is actually a blessing.  – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

No comments: