Offering your life – Mark 8:34-9:1 Reflection
Have you dared to look deep into your heart to know if you are the Christian Jesus wants you to be? If so, you are likely suffering in silence in some spiritual way. St. John of the Cross explains that being like Jesus without knowing some form of spiritual discomfort is virtually impossible. Physical discomforts that do not have a direct spiritual effect sometimes may not fit Christ’s definition of “taking up the cross.” There are also opposite, more positive signs, including that, in limited proportion, you are offering your life by loving, praying, being present, or doing for others. We should be cautious in the spiritual world to not leave behind the joy, wonder, and happiness of being both fully divine and fully human.
Jesus Teaches the People by the Sea by James Tissot.
The full-resolution painting and more details are available on the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Ordinary Time Reflections
Mark 8:34-9:1 – Scripture*
34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 9:1 – Scripture
1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on Mark 8:34-9-1 Reflection – Offering your life.
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Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities experience your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite worldly distractions.
Attributions
*This site has permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible Mark 8 and Mark 9 passage.
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