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Friends,
in today's Gospel we discover the true cost of discipleship. The Lord
says that whoever wishes to come after him must "deny himself, take up
his cross, and follow me." Notice please that this is not simply a
question of accepting suffering that happens to befall us. This is not
simply a Stoic resignation. Jesus is telling us to actively take up our
crosses, to seek them out, to carry them as Jesus willingly carried his.
What
Jesus did on the cross was to bear the burden of the world's sin. He
bore others' burdens in love. And this is what we must do too, actively
seeking out ways to lighten other people's loads. And then the great
paradox: "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."
When
we cling and grasp, we lose; when we let go in radical love, we find.
Close your fist on your life and it crumbles to the dust; open your hand
and let it go, and it grows tenfold.
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