Youth for Christ Sto. Tomas Cluster

02172012, Friday

James 2:14-24, 26/ Psalm 112

Gospel: Mark 8:34 – 9:1

The Way of the Cross

Then he called the crowd to him along with His disciples and said: “If anyone who would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.

And he said to them: “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death they see the kingdom of God come with power.”

YOUR COMMITMENT, REKINDLED

Denying yourself. Taking up your cross. Surrendering everything else.

1) Do you remember the moments when you felt you had the best things in the world? The day when you had the best gadgets left to right, shopped for your favorite clothes, gained friends with whom you can party from dusk till dawn, having your first car, or simply those moments when you can have anything you wanted at once? I do.

2) Now, do you still remember the moments when you had everything the world can offer yet felt totally empty and unhappy? I do too.

3) Envision Jesus born in a manger, grew in the small town of Nazareth, whose father is a carpenter – one who lived a simple way of life. Remember this scene? God humbles us. He shows us that no earthly possessions matter as much. In truth, it brings no true happiness to the person who carries any amount of earthly possessions for nothing compares to what the Lord can offer.

4) Remember the moment when you helped a stranger in need? A stranger confused and in need of directions for his way back home? Remember paying for a beggar’s meal? Volunteering for distribution of relief goods, or even simply managing to pass your subjects?

These actions seem so small, so basic, yet are the more essential ones.

5) Remember this song:

All that I am, all that I have

I lay them down before you O Lord

All my regrets all my acclaim

The joy and the pain, I’m making them yours.

Lord I offer my life to you

Everything I’ve been through

Use it for your glory

Lord I offer my days to you

Lifting my praise to you

As a pleasing sacrifice

Lord I offer you my life..

To carry our cross means denying ourselves from our fears, anxieties, vices and temptation. Denying ourselves from the obsession to material things.

To carry our cross means to allow ourselves to take an extra leap of faith, live and see the way Jesus did.

Focus not on what is temporary. Expand your vision and invest in the promise of God’s everlasting Love in His paradise. A life entailing sacrifice is a life worth living.

Writer: Michi Mayol | Artist: Glen Lopez