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.”
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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
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