Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay each according to his conduct.
Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay each according to his conduct.
Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
Quiet Time Reflections:
Every morning, I read a portion from the Bible. Today I visited The Word Among Us website. It is an online Catholic Devotional Based on the Daily Mass Readings.
I like this website because it gives you a link to the online NAB Readings at USCCB.org
I still prefer to have the King James version close by, in order to have a deeper study of the readings. My KJV has comments for specific words and phrases.
As I was reading the Meditation for today in the online magazine. These words stood out to me: "follow him!"
The meditation is based in the Old Testament reading in Deuteronomy 4:32-40. So after reading the meditation, I clicked over to the Spanish version of the website. That meditation is based on the Gospel of Mathew. The one written at the start of this post.
As I'm reading the Gospel, I see it again! "Follow me."
God's desire for us, is to follow him!
Do I deny myself everyday and take up my cross? What things am I allowing in my life that prevent me from following Jesus? What activities get more attention in my life, that I can't spend at least 15 minutes in prayer?
We follow so many trends. We follow people on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and other social medias.
Do we follow the One who sent his only Son to give his life for our redemption? Do we follow the One who gave everything so that he could win us back to his side? Do we follow the One who has filled us with his own Spirit and who never stops offering us his grace, his power, and his presence?
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life? NONE
and forfeit his life? NONE
Am I seeking the approval of people? Yes, I often do. Lately, I had been a little down because my posts were not getting any comments. I was looking for answers of why? Until I realized, is it important to see 20 comments on your post? It would be nice, but its not necessary. I just want to know that what I'm doing is of benefit to someone else.
Then I get this message on Facebook: "Hi i have to tell you . You are my inspiration since i have been seeing How organized u are I have a desk now. All my papers are in order. I already paid my bills this month. You are a great mom wife and person"
Wow! Thank you Lord Jesus! Just one message, made me realize that I making a difference in someone's life. But its not me. Its God working through me, through my actions, through my words. I seek for people not to follow me, but for people to follow HIM!
Your comments are appreciated. Thank You!
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