Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.
Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
As we consider our own discipleship, St. Ignatius tells us to contemplate love and then demonstrate it, more in deeds than in words.
When I ponder God’s love for me I can barely take it in. My family, friends, education, parish, running water and lights in my house, the beauty and bounty of nature, my work and relationships at Bellarmine, the blessings too many to name, impossible to enumerate.
How do I let go of the anxieties of the times and truly love? Through one loving act at a time. Then through prayer in gratitude for blessings with an open heart to notice each moment where God is calling me next. In this time of pandemic and social injustice I feel overwhelmed. I return to prayer and am consoled by Jesus’ gentle way of loving. He gives us hope and the path forward.
How can I respond to Jesus’ invitation to love in his name?
—Erin Maiorca is the Executive Director at Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House in Barrington, IL. Erin’s other vocations include wife to Tom and mother to two wonderful sons.
Father in heaven,
you have given us a mind to know you,
a will to serve you,
and a heart to love you.
Be with us today in all that we do,
so that your light may shine out in our lives.
Through Christ our Lord.
—St. Thomas More
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