24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B, Year II)
Community Word: Obeying God’s word purifies us, giving honor to Him.
Theme: We obey God’s word when we deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.
Promise: “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.” (Mk 8:35)
Reflection:
“Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do,” (Mark 8:33). If that is not a dressing-down, what is? As the accepted leader of the disciples, it must have been humbling and difficult for Peter to take this reprimand, especially since he was admonished in front of the others. But can you really blame Peter?
He had just witnessed a flurry of miracles performed by his Master, drawing throngs of people to follow Him everywhere He went. No wonder, Peter was quick to proclaim, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29) when Jesus asked His apostles, “But you, who do you say I am?”
Like Peter, the rest of the disciples were unprepared to comprehend, much less to accept the statement of Jesus that He was to “suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days,” (Mark 8:31). They expected Him to be a glorious savior and king, and were probably asking themselves, “How could He possibly allow His enemies to humiliate Him and even be killed by them?” We know how difficult it was for the apostles to believe in His Resurrection even after He had risen from the dead and was before them, just as He appeared to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus.
Unlike His apostles we, in a charismatic renewal community like BLD, are now in a better position to fully appreciate the humiliation brought about by the sufferings and death of Jesus. We understand more clearly that Jesus suffered and died on the cross in order to redeem us from our sins and earn for us the reward of eternal life. It is in His death and resurrection that we find hope for eternal life and reason and meaning for all the sufferings we endure on earth.
Whenever we find ourselves wondering why things aren’t the way we want them to be, especially at a time when we are deeply emerged in the service of the Lord, we should remember His words in the gospel “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,” (Mark 8:34). This is our theme for the week. We are to deny ourselves and follow Christ on the road to Calvary, for at the end of that road lies eternal life in heaven with Him.
We all know that this is easier said than done. Under normal circumstances, no one is willing to go through any kind of suffering. On the contrary, self-preservation at all cost is an overwhelming human instinct. But the Lord declares the exact opposite, “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,” (Mark 8:35).
The 2nd reading from the book of James, tells us that we are to put action into faith and shift our focus from self to others through concrete acts of love for our brethren in need. “What good is it my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?” he asks in James 2:14. Faith, James tells us, does not end in setting our hearts on divine things alone, but must include corresponding acts that reach out and help others make a difference in their lives. “So faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead,” (James 2:17).
To have faith means to bear fruit; when we bear fruit, we allow ourselves to be vessels of the Holy Spirit in works of God manifested through us. We strive to bear fruit by God’s grace, no matter how seemingly insurmountable the sufferings we need to face. As we do, we are able to fulfill BLD’s Vision to be “a community of disciples inspired by the Holy Spirit to be living witnesses for transformation in Christ…”
Reflection Questions:
1. What trials or difficulties are you undergoing now as you go about serving the Lord? Do you take up this cross willingly and with diligence?
2. How do you use your time, talent and treasure for mission work and put life into your faith, in addressing the needs of the poor?
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
September 16, 2012 (Sun) Is 50:5-9/ Ps 116:1-6,8,9/ Jas 2:2:14-18/ Mk 8:27-35
September 17, 2012 (Mon) 1Cor 11:17-26,33/ Ps 40:7-10,17/ Lk 7:1-10
September 18, 2012 (Tue) 1Cor 12:12-14,27,31/ Ps 100:1-5/ Lk 7:11-17
September 19, 2012 (Wed) 1Cor 12:31-13:13/ Ps 33:2-5, 12,22/ Lk 7:31-35
September 22, 2012 (Thu) 1Cor 15:1-11/ Ps 118:1,2,16,17,28/ Lk 7:36-50
September 21, 2012 (Fri) Eph 4:1-7,11-13/ Ps 19:2-5/ Mt 9:9-13
September 22, 2012 (Sat) 1Cor 15:35-37,42-49/ Ps 56:10-14/ Lk 8:4-15
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
