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How Far Would You Go for God?
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March 1, 2024
How Far Would You Go for God?
Jesus said, “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)
In chapter 8 of Mark's Gospel, Jesus makes a lot of powerful statements, but this above is the one I felt the Holy Spirit wanted me to focus on because it’s so counter to the thinking of the world we live in, not just today, but throughout time.
We are so blessed because, compared to most of the world, even our poor live in luxury with rights, both personal and religious, that usually successfully protect us regardless of our beliefs, even sinful beliefs.
Fortunately, for the most part, we live in a place where order prevails in our society versus anarchy, so we are pretty secure from being asked to give our life for the sake of Jesus and that of the Gospel. However, today there are still many modern-day martyrs, even here in the USA.
The problem is that we so often take our eyes off the prize, or maybe a better word would be the gift God wants us all to have, which is sharing in the divine life of Jesus both today and for eternity, but this is nothing new.
In the book of Genesis, we see that the people were becoming ambitious, worldly, and self-centered instead of being God-centered. They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves.” The crazy thing about this is that these people were the early descendants of Noah and his sons.
Yes, it’s hard to believe, but God had already destroyed the world because of the sinfulness of man; they had to know this, and yet here they were going down the same sorrowful road. Evidently, with human nature, the old adage, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” has always held true.
So, while we often look at our world today, especially from a moral and faith-based point of view, and think that it is probably the worst time in human history and Jesus might come at any minute, the truth is that what we might call the good old days were just as sinful or maybe even worse than today.
Jesus said, “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.”
It is critical that we remember that these are not the words of a mere man; these are the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So, for us, it is important that we ask ourselves the question, what would we do if we were in a situation where we had to either deny our faith in Christ or die.
What would we do?
We should ponder and reflect on this question because, while this probably won’t happen, we need to be prepared; we need to know in our hearts how far we are willing to go for Christ before we are put to the test.
In Mark, chapter 8, Jesus is speaking very clearly and frankly, letting us know that to be his follower, we need to eliminate self-centeredness from our lives and, as best we can through his grace, embrace Humility and Surrender ourselves body, mind, and soul to his love so that we are not distracted by the noise of the world and are able to hear his voice when we seek his guidance in silent Adoration.
You know, for men, surrender is usually a dirty word; to us, it means defeat. Just the word can feel like a challenge to our manhood. But in the spiritual life, in a life focused on the Lord, surrender is essential and doesn’t mean defeat but is the path to victory in Christ. Jesus tells us this today by saying, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,” and “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,” and he goes on to say, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”
These are hard statements, but Jesus is talking about eternal life here, but even knowing that, it is still hard for us to take in and apply to our life because it’s completely counterintuitive and counter to our culture. The truth is Surrendering to God takes courage, and we should never let the enemy fool us into thinking that Surrendering to God is only for cowards.
One of the proofs that it takes courage is that so few people in our world are willing to do it. It’s not the easy path of life.
Recently, the Church remembered The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, who are now known as the Servants of Mary. Back in the thirteenth century, these seven men, who lived in a very prosperous and worldly Florence, Italy, gave up everything to live a life of solitude, silence, and prayer, giving themselves to the service of God.
Bolstered by a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to them surrounded by angels, she instructed them on their mission, clothed them in their habits, presented them with their rule of life, and personally founded their order.
Today, they total about 800 Priests and Brothers serving all over the world. As we remember the lives of these holy men, let us remember their obedience, humility, and willingness to answer their call to prayer and service that flowed from their love of God and our Blessed Mother.
Let us strive, as these Holy Men did and their order still does today, to ask our Blessed Mother to lead us to her son, and that as we listen to the Lord daily in silent Adoration, and after receiving our instructions from him, pray that he gives us the strength and courage to follow God’s will for our lives, wherever He may lead us.
Amen.
