Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“He who loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10: 39)
This Sunday’s Gospel is situated in an important moment as Jesus calls his 12 disciples to him, and He sends them out to preach the Kingdom of Heaven to the “lost sheep of Israel.” He does so with specific instructions, such as to take nothing with them, and to give freely as they have received freely. He tells them not to worry what they will say, as the Spirit of the Father will be with them. Today’s passage follows last week’s Gospel in which the Lord four times tells his disciples: “Do not be afraid.”
The Lord continues forming his disciples today with a logic that seems contradictory, and yet is the heart of the Christian life: “He who loses his life for my sake will find it.” In order to truly find one’s life and discover life in abundance, we must be ready to give it up. What does it mean to truly “losing our life”?
Christ gives us some strong indication, telling us that we must be willing to take up our cross. We must not love anything more than God himself. If we take a moment to consider this in prayer, in what ways do I seek to preserve my life? What things in my life do I love more God and am not so willing to give up? Money, my reputation, my comforts, etc.?
We might ask ourselves, however, if we give any of these things up, will be truly “find our life”? Are the Lord’s words worthy of being believed? How can it be true that in giving of ourselves, in “losing our life,” we can truly find it?
Let us look to the Lord Jesus for the answers. He is the Son of the Father, and through our baptism, we are invited to be sons and daughters of the same loving Father. We have received everything from him, and all that he has is ours! How does the Son live? He lives by giving himself and loving us to the end. And he invites us to live the life of a son or daughter: to receive freely from the Father, and trusting in him, to give freely to others.
In so doing, we will be proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven to others, inviting them to discover this same logic of gratuitous giving. We pray Lord for the grace to discover our calling to be sons and daughters of the loving Father, and to respond by trusting in the Lord and “losing our life in order to find it.”
God bless you,
Patrick Travers
Newman Director
