Thursday - Lent Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord our God,
you love us and you invite us
to share in your own life and joy,
through a personal decision.
Help us to choose you and life
and to remain ever loyal
to this basic option
by the power of Jesus Christ, your Son,
who was loyal to you and to us,
now and for ever.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 9, 22-25
He said, 'The Son of man is
destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests
and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.'
Then, speaking to all, he said,
'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up
his cross every day and follow me.
Anyone who wants to save his life
will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, will save it. What
benefit is it to anyone to win the whole world and forfeit or lose his very
self?
3) Reflection
•
Yesterday we enter into the time of Lent. Up until now the daily Liturgy
followed the Gospel of Mark, step after step. Beginning yesterday until Easter,
the sequence of the reading of the day will be given by the ancient tradition
of Lent and of the Preparation for Easter. From the very first day, the
perspective is that of the Passion, Death and Resurrection and of the sense
which this mystery has for our life. This is what is proposed in the rather
brief text of today’s Gospel. The text speaks of the Passion, Death and
Resurrection of Jesus and affirms that the following of Jesus presupposes that
we carry our cross after Jesus.
•
Before, in Luke 9, 18-21, Jesus asks: “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They
answered giving the different opinions: “John the Baptist”, “Elijah or one of
the ancient prophets”. After having heard the opinions of others, Jesus asks:
“Who do you say I am?” Peter answers: “The Christ of God!”, that is, the Lord
is the one expected by the people.! Jesus agreed with Peter, but he orders and
charges them not to say this to anyone. Why did Jesus forbid this? Because at
that time everybody was expecting the Messiah, but each one according to his
own mind: some as king, others as priest, doctor, warrior, judge or
prophet! Jesus thinks in a different way. He identifies himself with the
Messiah, servant and suffering, announced by Isaiah (42,1-9; 52,13-53,
12).
• The first announcement of the Passion. Jesus begins to teach that he is
the Messiah, the Servant and affirms that, as Messiah, Servant announced by
Isaiah, soon he will be put to death in the carrying out of his mission of
justice (Is 49, 4-9; 53, 1-12). Luke usually follows the Gospel of Mark, but
here he omits Peter’s reaction who advised Jesus against or tried to dissuade
him to think in the suffering Messiah and he also omits the hard response: “Far
from me, Satan! Because you do not think as God, but as men!” Satan is a
Hebrew word which means accuser, the one who draws away the others far
from the path of God. Jesus does not allow Peter to get away from his mission.
• Conditions to follow Jesus. Jesus draws conclusions valid
even until now: “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up
his cross every day and follow me”. At that time the cross was the death
penalty which the Roman Empire gave to marginalized criminals. To take up the
cross and to carry it following Jesus was the same as accepting to be marginalized
by the unjust system which legitimized injustices. It was the same as to break
away from the system. As St. Paul says in the letter to the Galatians: “The
world has been crucified for me and I to the world” (Ga 6, 14). The cross is
not fatalism, neither is it an exigency from the Father. The Cross is the
consequence of the commitment freely assumed by Jesus to reveal the Good News
that God is Father, and that, therefore, we all should be accepted and treated
as brothers and sisters. Because of this revolutionary announcement, he was
persecuted and he was not afraid to deliver his own life. There is no
greater proof of love than to give one’s life for the brother.
4) Personal questions
•
Everybody was waiting for the Messiah, each one in his/her own way. Which is
the Messiah whom I expect and which people today expect?
•
The condition to follow Jesus is the cross. How do I react before the crosses
of life?
5) Concluding Prayer
How blessed is anyone who rejects
the advice of the wicked
and does not take a stand in the
path that sinners tread,
nor a seat in company with cynics,
but who delights in the law of
Yahweh
and murmurs his law day and night.
(Ps 1,1-2)
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