HOMILY OF THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
HOMILY OF THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas
Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?
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As we enter the serious season of Lent, Jesus reminds us that following Him is not really easy or something we can take lightly. He said: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” He has all the right to demand this from His followers because He Himself did all these.
Following Jesus means total surrender of our will to the will of God. That is self-denial. We do not insist on what we want. We take control of our self and submit it to the will of God. But this is not enough. There is a need to take up our cross , and Jesus says it is every day. We should expect and accept all trials and sufferings that come our way. This is the cross we have to bear patiently. Going to work, doing the house chores, taking care of the children, helping the sick and the needy, and attending to a family problem are some examples of sacrifices we do every single day which we consider as our cross.
In the Salve Regina, the world is referred to as “Lacrimarum Valle”or Valley of Tears. This is because sufferings are part of our life in this world, and no one can avoid them. But the choice is ours: either these sufferings become the cross that will lead us to salvation, or they can make our life more miserable. It all depends on how we bear our sufferings. If we bear our sufferings patiently like Jesus, knowing that it is the only way to follow Him, then they become our way to salvation.
On the other hand, if we always complain and try to avoid sufferings, we make our life more miserable, the cross becomes unbearable, and heaven is unattainable. Blessed Jacques Ghazir Haddad puts it this way: “Anyone who seeks heaven without suffering is like someone who wants to buy goods without paying.” Thus, St. Rose of Lima concludes: “Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may go to heaven.”
St. Therese of the Child Jesus gives us a very simple formula: offering. We offer to God all our activities, duties, sacrifices and sufferings every day. They become our prayers to God. They become the cross for our salvation. They become our way to follow Jesus more closely until we reach eternal life with Him in heaven.
In closing, let the words of the Patron of Parish Priests, St. John Vianney, serve as an invaluable lesson for us: “Everything is a reminder of the cross. We ourselves are made in the shape of a cross.”
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