From Sacrife to Glory

By Abba Jimmy (Theoloscience)

Thursday after Ash

First reading: Dt 30, 15–20; Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1, 1–2. 3. 4 and 6; Gospel

Lk 9, 22–25

(Edited version of my homily)

Brothers, the path of discipleship entails sacrifices and pain, which are actually a disguise for the Glory that awaits us. Remember that, hey! The suffering and pain that we can endure for being disciples of Jesus is a disguise for the true meaning; because the true meaning, beyond suffering, pain and death, is in Glory, in eternal life. Then, if we are convinced of that, we will be able to pass and move forward on the path of discipleship. The Lord is very clear in saying: ‘If you want to accompany me, if you want to come with me, if you want to follow me, you will have eternal life.’ However, you must take up your daily cross, not seek yourself, but follow me, he says. ‘If anyone wants to accompany me, let him not look for himself, let him take up his daily cross and follow me.’ As we can hear, this is an art, an art because we can be criticized sometimes, or you can be criticized. ‘There is Mary, look at her, she is already trying to become famous by preaching truth; There is Father Lopez, and by making his podcasts he surely wants to become famous, right? Or there is Bishop García, he already wants to become famous; or there is Sister Lola, who is also already giving many talks and is everywhere.’ They are risks that exist; They can be true sometimes. However, it is very difficult to judge these types of situations, because when a person has the gift of service and the Lord uses them to do great works, it can obviously also generate envy around them, right? For example, the gift of healing, the gift of healing. If you have special gifts, be prepared to suffer, obviously. Yes that’s what I mean. It’s not that we do things to stand out. In English it is better expressed: ‘He/She is trying to build up a name.’ She is not trying to build a name, become famous or famous. No, is not that. We seek Jesus and we must seek Him, knowing that it is a sacrifice. Knowing that it entails pain and suffering. But, as I said at the beginning, suffering, pain, sorrow, death do not have the last word. The Lord has the last word; The last word is eternal life, Glory with the Lord, Peace, eternal life, Glory.

We all want to get there, of course we do. But to get there, we must go through certain purifications here on Earth. We must be docile to the divine will, like the saints, who said to the Lord: ‘Whatever comes, I receive it from you, good or bad, because everything comes from the Lord. The Lord allows everything.’ It is a mystery, of course, but we can always choose the best path, as Moses tells the people: ‘Before you are life and good, or death and evil.’ There is an indication there of some availability on our part. It is as if the Lord also uses our voluntary response. We cannot leave everything to the Lord. Those who have really studied language know that the word ‘if’ in languages is called conditional. It is an indication of will, orientation, decision, personal disposition, an act of the will. ‘If you do what I command you, loving the Lord, following his ways, fulfilling his precepts, you will live.’ There it is, then. However, it is not a mathematical proportion; We can’t always say, ‘OK, Lord, I’ve already done so much, I have so much to do, right?’ It is not a salary. With God it is not like that. If we are willing, we try, we fight, We agonize, sweat, cry and suffer voluntarily, the final result and the final fruit is in the hands of God. And that’s okay, because that keeps us humble. We cannot control God or our destiny before Him. He has our lives in His hands. And we already know, the final destination is the victory of Jesus. That is what he gives us, gives us, offers us. That is why I would like, throughout my homilies and reflections that I share with you, and that we also share with each other, to place more emphasis on the fact that beyond pain comes life, reward, Glory, light, eternal joy. , so that we do not focus so much on suffering, because yes, suffering exists.”

But here it is also important to set our sights on what is to come. That is what the Lord calls us: to look beyond pain and suffering. Of course, at first, how difficult it is, right. The apostles themselves struggled to understand when Jesus announced to them that he was going to suffer. They did not understand that he was going to resurrect; It just didn’t fit in their minds. They had never seen a dead person come back to life, they didn’t understand it. It was a long process for them, a difficult process. They did not understand, but the Lord prepared us, he prepared them. Look how Jesus says to his disciples: ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the authorities, by the elders, the high priests and the scribes, and be handed over to death.’ And here comes a phrase that went unnoticed by the disciples: ‘And may he rise again on the third day.’ I imagine the disciples confused, not getting the twenty. But when they saw Jesus alive after he had died, he changed everything completely. What a huge transformation, right?

Let’s take an example: your grandfather who has already passed away, and you see him alive again. What would you feel? It is an immense joy. ‘Let me hug you.’ Thus was Thomas: ‘I do not believe until he sees.’ And a week later, ‘Look, Tomás. It’s me, look at me, touch me.’ When you were convinced it was Jesus, what do you think happened? It’s an incredible transformation. Yes, they continued to suffer, but they were already witnesses of a resurrected Christ. They were visual witnesses, auditory witnesses, real witnesses. They were no longer afraid of death. Most of us are afraid, let’s be honest, because it is a mystery. But when you have that conviction, as the apostles, the disciples had, of having seen Jesus dead and then resurrected, it totally changes your perspective.

Are you understanding me, brothers? This is the great message of salvation. This is the message, the pure gospel. Therein lies the essence of the Gospel: being witnesses of the risen Christ changes everything. “If you and I say, ‘Yes, I’m going to die, but I’m going to be resurrected,’ our view of life and death is completely transformed.”

I have the promise and therefore I want to obey the Lord. I want to follow his path, right? I want to obey his commandments in a world where the majority doesn’t even pay attention. I know I’ll be singled out, but look, I make a connection with social media. For example, when I went to see the movie ‘Life After Dead’. Life after death. It’s interesting because it’s a people documentary and it’s presented without a specific religious focus, it’s a more realistic approach. Who has seen it?

That movie, brother, is one of the good ones. See it. ‘Life after Death’, life after death. And then, to make a connection with what I’m saying, those people who died and entered into a very beautiful light, saw Jesus Christ and felt very beautiful to be there. But when they came back, they asked themselves, ‘Why did I come back? I didn’t want to return to this world.’ And those who died but went to another place, who fell into a deep and dark pit, when They returned, they totally changed their lives, they focused on what was essential. This is another way of being a witness.

Both groups, those who saw the light and those who returned from the bottom, faced the same thing: rejection, criticism, condemnation. Because they were already witnesses. And if you are a witness, you no longer fit in this world, brother. It’s real, they didn’t fit anymore. They lost many friends because they talked about it and sometimes they didn’t even want to talk because they thought they wouldn’t be believed.

See, how he makes the connection between the Gospel and a world movie. Now, let’s go back to the Gospel. ‘At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: The Son of Man must suffer many things, that he be rejected… and that he rise again on the third day.’ Then, addressing the crowd, he said to them: ‘If anyone wants to accompany me, let him not look for himself, but take up his daily cross and follow me.’ This cross means that you no longer fit in, brother, you are no longer of the world. Taking up this cross is the true cross.

‘For in another passage, Jesus says: You are in the world, but you are not of the world.’ He tells us this in many ways, so that we can get through these difficult times here on Earth. Those who had seen the light no longer wanted to return, and I don’t blame them. ‘Whoever wants to keep his life for himself will lose it, but whoever loses it for my sake will find it.’ That is, you have to spend your life in Jesus to have it with Him eternally. ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he loses himself?’ God’s word.

Being believers is knowing where we are and where we are going. Amen, amen.