Continue reading »]]> If you are a mother, a grandmother, daughter, a sister, a wife, a friend, an aunt or a girlfriend, or if your life has been enhanced by having women play these roles for you, we invite you to watch a new groundbreaking short movie, “The One Flaw In Women.” It’s based on the moving poem that celebrates women for all that they are and all that they contribute to in our world.

We invite you to share this movie with your family members, friends, colleagues or anyone you can think of that can benefit from its important message and moving imagery.  It can easily brighten everyone’s day and help the women in your life feel like they’ve made a difference.

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Sometimes I need a push to dive into something demanding, be it an unpleasant task, a tediously long and boring job or just motivating myself for a variety of tasks.  Motivation and persistence do not come naturally  to many of us.

The Gospel for this Sunday is about a journey but the end is not something I would choose.  As I reflected on our Gospel I was reminded of the following quote from a book I read early in my spiritual journey -

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

With these words, in The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave powerful voice to the millions of Christians who believe personal sacrifice is an essential component of faith.

Jesus is determined to journey to Jerusalem. This might seem like a pleasant trip, until we realize that the journey to Jerusalem is really a metaphor for his passion, death and resurrection!  As disciples, we are invited to join Jesus on this journey to new life.

The challenge of this Gospel is to accept the cost of discipleship – to accept dying to self that is necessary to following Jesus and to cooperate with him in establishing God’s reign.

Frustration and fatigue, disappointment and rejection can stop us dead in our  tracks. Even so, Jesus is very patient. giving us the strength we need to continue the journey.  This strength comes from the love and support of family and friends, through learning to let go of less important things, by experiencing the good of our self-giving.

The Good News – rely on Jesus who has promised to be with us to the end of our journey.

Continue reading »]]> Anyone involved with youth knows that the question of identity is the question for them. They are trying to find out who they are in terms of talents, career choices, how they relate to others. All of this is a positive step in maturation during which they identify their strengths and weaknesses, consider their gifts and bond with others who help them in this somewhat painful process. When asked about who they are, no one would answer in terms of pain, suffering or death.

In our Gospel today, Jesus asks a similar question about his identity. When Peter answers, the Christ of God, little did he know that implied suffering greatly, being rejected and being killed! This is the way Jesus becomes who he really is – the Risen One.  When we think Jesus’ mission we usually think of his teaching and preaching, his healing and working miracles. Bur underlying these activities is his suffering, death and resurrection. And so it is with us.

We are called to daily take up our cross; to die to ourselves and to care for others. Following Jesus has its cost.  We save our lives by losing them. Self-giving is life-giving.