Father Marcel Divine’s Bulletin Message for the 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Dearest beloved, in this Sunday’s Gospel we hear Jesus who says: “Whoever wants to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Because whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” What does it mean to “deny"

The train of life on which many are traveling is going toward death. Our natural “I,” being mortal, is destined for destruction. What the Gospel is proposing to us when it urges us to deny ourselves, is to get off this train and board another one that leads to life. The train that leads to life is faith in him who said: “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live.” Paul knew what it means to transfer from one train to another and he describes it thus: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me. If we assume the “I” of Christ we become immortal because he is risen from the dead and dies no more. Jesus’ call for us to deny ourselves and thus find life is not a call to abuse ourselves or reject ourselves in a simplistic way. It is about not doing our own will but that of the Lord.

Jesus does not ask us to deny “what we are,” but “what we have become.” We are images of God. So, we are something “very good,” as God himself said, immediately after creating man and woman. What we must deny is not that which God has made, but that which we ourselves have made by misusing our freedom -- the evil tendencies like pride, greed, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy and sloth. St. Paul calls this disfigured image, “the earthly image,” in contrast to the “heavenly image,” which is the resemblance of Christ.

“Denying ourselves,” therefore, is not a work of death, but one of life, of beauty and of joy. It is also a learning of the language of true love. Consider this! Two young people love each other. But they belong to two different nations and speak completely different languages. If their love is to survive and grow, one of them must learn the language of the other. Otherwise, they will not be able to communicate and their love will not last.
This is how it is with us and God. We speak the language of the flesh, he speaks that of the spirit. He speaks the language of love, and we speak the language of selfishness. For us to truly live, we must speak God’s language of love.

Denying yourself is learning the language of God so that we can communicate with him, but it is also learning the language that allows us to communicate with each other. We will not be able to say “yes” to the other, if we are not first of all able to say “no” to ourselves.

We loose nothing good by denying ourselves; instead, we gain everything good. Let’s let go of our selfishness, and let in Jesus. Letting Jesus comes first, Others, second, and then you the third brings JOY. J stands for  Jesus; O stands for Others; Y stands for You.

God bless you!

Your servant-pastor

Fr. Marcel Divine CSsR