Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
August 9, 2024
Today’s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080924.cfm
Jesus said to his disciples,
“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 will find it.
Matthew 16: 24-25
This passage from Matthew is one of the most astounding challenges Jesus gave his disciples: deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me.
What does it really mean to deny oneself? Does it mean to become a doormat or a Milquetoast? Does it suggest repressing one’s personality or ambitions? To act like a nobody?
Of course not! So many places in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures assure us that we are unique, precious, and beloved of God. God doesn’t want us not to be ourselves because that’s who we were created to be!
I think denying oneself means not getting caught in the mirror of selfishness. Instead we are called to focus on Jesus and his absolute care for all Creation, especially those who are poor, sick, outcast, and troubled. We can’t really do that if we are consumed with self-interest.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the grace to be aware, brave, and faithful enough to put the good of others first for the sake of Christ.
Poetry: As the Ruin Falls – C.S. Lewis
All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.
Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love --a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.
Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.
I see the chasm.
And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man.
And now the bridge is breaking.
For this I bless you as the ruin falls.
The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.
Music: Deny Yourself – Paul Melley
Deny yourself.
Take up your cross
.
Despite the pain
Despite the cost.
Leave all behind
and follow me.
Deny yourself,
be free.
For what will it profit to gain the world
and lose your life?
Those who would save their life will lose it.
What can you give in return for your life?
For those would lose their life will find it.
Deny yourself.
Come, take up your cross and daily follow me
and you will have rich reward in heaven.
Those who have left their home and family for his sake
inherit one hundred fold,
inherit eternal life.
Deny yourself.
What can you give in return for your life?
For those who would lose their life,
lose their life will find it
Deny yourself
Lord, you reveal the depth
of your life and your love
in your everlasting covenant.
Strengthen the faith we share,
fill our work with your love,
and bring all of us to grace,
to the grace you promise.
Lavish Mercy 