7 August 2020
Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
One of Ignatius’ favorite books was “The Imitation of Christ.” He read it often and would recommend it to others for spiritual reading and spiritual profit. In this book, the author comments upon today’s Gospel when he writes: “Jesus today has many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few of them carry His cross…We all want to rejoice with Him, but few of us are willing to suffer anything for His sake. Many follow Jesus up to the breaking of the bread, but few go on to the drinking of the chalice of His passion…why do you then fear to carry the cross? This is the way that leads to the kingdom.”
I have often returned to these words and prayed over them in light of today’s Gospel. Am I following Christ only for what I can get from him, or only when it benefits me, or do I follow Christ even when it costs me and when it hurts? The witness of the Apostles should caution us to presume too quickly that Christ’s passion and cross do not give us pause, fear, or cause us to falter. Today’s gospel is a radical invitation that Christ extends to his disciples which subverts the logic of the world. Let us pray today upon the times when our encounters with our daily crosses have caused us to shrink back and turn away from the Lord, and pray to have hearts more like Mary, the Apostle John and Simon of Cyrene to pick up our crosses and walk with the Lord to Calvary for in this sign Christ has conquered.