Take up your cross

 

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me

How do we encourage people to follow Christ with their whole lives? This question is placed before us in baptism, when we are called to renounce all that leads us away from God and to profess our faith. Our baptismal calling stands at the heart of our Catholic life. Just as our birthday marks our birth into a family that sustains and nurtures us, our baptismal day marks our birth into the family of faith. It is a day worth remembering and celebrating.

Forming Young People in Hope

As we prepare to celebrate this weekend, we are invited to ask how we can help our young people know Jesus more deeply. The presence of many people at Mass each Sunday reminds us that faith is celebrated not only in prayer, but also in the way we live. We are called to be missionaries of hope.

We also need to ask our young people to help us discover what is truly pleasing to God. They carry wisdom that can ignite the fire of faith in others—and in us. We have much to share with them, but they can also renew us as people of faith, hope, and love.

Losing Life to Find It

The Gospel invites us to ponder a love that does not avoid the realities of suffering and death. Jesus shows us that God is willing to surrender everything for our good. To follow him is to learn that life is not something we possess for ourselves alone. As Jesus says, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

Two truths emerge from the teaching of Jesus. First, life is not a private possession, but a gift entrusted to our care. Each day we are called to give thanks for what we have received and to use it generously. Second, our relationship with God is not a bargain in which we trade one thing for another. God embraces us in a way that frees us to become true disciples.

A Living Sacrifice

St Paul writes to the Romans, urging them to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This means allowing our behaviour to be shaped by God’s will and learning to discern what is good. Such discernment requires prayer, reflection on the world in which we live, and positive action that reflects God’s love and mercy.

Our faith is not abstract. It is an active engagement between prayer, reflection, and action. We need to know what is good and what helps us become good people. Our love must be more than skin deep. Together, we are called to build a way of life that transforms our own lives and the world around us.

Three Practical Invitations 

·       Pray with the Gospel: Create space each week to listen to the Gospel before coming to Mass, reflect on what the Word is saying today, and choose one practical step to put it into action.

·       Share our charisms: Help people discover the gifts the Holy Spirit has entrusted to them for the good of others and support one another in sharing these gifts rather than keeping them as private treasures.

·       Have conversations that matter: Listen with the ears of the heart. One practical step could be to form a study group to reflect on Magnifica Humanitas: The Grandeur of Humanity.

St Carlo Acutis gives us a concrete example of this way of life. Through his Eucharistic devotion and generous care for those in need, including within his own family, he expressed a deep love for God. Like him, we are called to rise in faith, hear the voice of Christ, respond to the needs of others, and offer our lives for God’s good purposes.