Reflection for February 18, Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time: Mark 8:34-9:1

Gospel: Mark 8:34-9:1

Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.  

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life? Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”  

He also said to them, “Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.”

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Reflection:

A very rich and worldly man had a serious sickness which he thought would be his end already. He had a dream where he heard the voice of God who told him, if you want to regain your health you have to leave everything behind and follow me. And so he did and true enough after a few weeks he regained back his health and from then on he became a follower of Jesus.  

There are times that we allow ourselves to be blinded by the glitters of this world. In the process we forget that the true essence of life is not to become the kings of this world but to become the soldiers of God in this world. But to become a soldier of God in this world entails great sacrifice and perseverance. So, many of us are averse to take up our cross and carry it for the sake Jesus.  

To amass wealth is not the purpose of life. If there are people whose sole purpose in life is to have wealth then they are badly misguided. The true purpose of life is to follow the life of Jesus because it is only through Jesus where we can experience the fullness of life.  

This is our mistake; we think that life is all about power, fame and fortune. This is why many of us tirelessly seek fame and fortune that we even sacrifice our health and dignity for it. Fame, power and fortune will even bring us colossal problems eventually.  

What would happen to us if we become citizens of this world only? Yes we gain riches, yes we gain prominence, power and many more worldly trappings. However, all of these will eventually reach an end then we realize that we are nothing and we have achieved nothing.  

It’s only in following Jesus that we would be able to find the true meaning of our lives. And it’s only in following Jesus that we’ll have peace and contentment in our lives. Never in this world will we find peace and contentment. – Marino J. Dasmarinas