Homily For The 24th Sunday In the Ordinary Time Year B, September 15, 2024
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“If God sends you many sufferings it is a sign that He has great plans for you, and certainly wants to make you a saint.” -St. Ignatius of Loyola
Sunday Readings
My Dear Children of God, May the Glory of God descend upon you who have gathered in His Holy temple to worship Him. May God give us the Grace to keep our commitment to be His true disciples. Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me…” Mk 8:34.
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The readings of today, especially the Gospel, explain that the basis of our faith is an acceptance of Jesus as Christ the Son of the Living God. Christ who through His sufferings, death and resurrection saved us from sin. If we are to have a share in His suffering and experience the Grace of His death and resurrection, we must follow Him daily denying ourselves and taking up our cross.
I made up this joke, “Deny your Bible, take up your phone, and follow a celebrity or influencer on Instagram or Facebook.” It may sound funny, but this reflects the attitude of many Christians today. Over the years, many have captioned this homily “The Cost of Discipleship”. I choose to caption it “The Discipleship That Costs“. A disciple is a follower or a student who is learning from the master. Or to say it differently, a disciple is a person who disciplines himself or herself in the teachings and practices of the master. In the Christian context, we are all disciples of Christ. There can never be a true disciple without discipline. Every disciple of Christ must be ready to follow in the discipline of their master. We need faith and discipline to be true disciples of Christ. Faith, because we need to believe in the one we follow. We need to recognize who He is, as Peter did; and discipline because we have to follow the rules- ‘deny’ ‘take up’ and ‘follow‘.
People follow too many things today on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media. It is all too common to boast of having many followers on social media. Many follow celebrities and friends online but hardly follow Christ and His ways. They give thumbs up and likes to those they follow on social media but do not even consider reading anything about the Gospel. Hours are spent watching videos on social media in contrast to zero hours reading the Bible or the homilies sent electronically. We even allow ourselves to be distracted while the Gospel is being read in church.
So many things, materially or financially speaking, may be costly but more costly is following as a disciple. There us no monetary cost, yet it costs a lot. Many do not follow Christ because He speaks of denial of oneself as the first discipline for His followers. Self-denial is an act of letting go of the self as with altruistic abstinence, which is willingness to forego personal pleasures or undergo personal trials in the pursuit of the increased good of another. In the first reading of today from the Third Suffering Servant song of Isaiah, aspects of Christ’s own life and mission are foreshadowed. Christ’s life is one of radical obedience and conformity to God’s will. How could Christ have done this if He hadn’t denied His Royalty and Kingly prestige to die as a servant? This is exactly what He calls us to do. This is very hard for us because we are naturally selfish. It is Grace that makes the difference in our lives.
James, without mincing words in the second reading, highlights aspects of self-denial in respect to our faith in Christ. James explains how our faith in Jesus, the Messiah, should help us to alleviate the sufferings of others by our works of mercy, both corporal and spiritual. Hence, FAITH WITHOUT GOOD WORKS IS DEAD AND WITHOUT SELF DENIAL, GOOD WORK IS IMPOSSIBLE.
Peter ran headlong into trouble denying himself in the Gospel passage. Peter doesn’t want Jesus to go to Jerusalem to suffer and to die. He wants the Messiah according to his own wishes. He wants Jesus to arrive triumphantly in Jerusalem and restore Israel. In Peter’s agenda, there is no room for a suffering Messiah who cares diligently for the poor and the oppressed.
In our world, we get caught up like Peter. We often do not deny ourselves to put others first. Our agendas and our schedules come first in our daily lives. Our plans and our needs are more important than those of others. Once our plans are set we don’t want to change them. If we do, we upset the status quo. We tell ourselves, we can’t upset others, because if we upset others then we aren’t being Christian.
The greatest enemy in the spiritual life is the ‘Self’. When we conquer the self of its selfish desires then following Christ becomes easier. Then, taking up our cross as Christ took up His becomes much easier. Your cross could be any suffering you have to endure for Christ’s sake to be a faithful follower or disciple. Do not forget that the cross is a symbol of victory, so do not give it up. Don’t drop it, face it with faith and courage;God will always provide strength and fortitude. He will never allow the weight of your cross to bring you down. “If God sends you many sufferings it is a sign that He has great plans for you, and certainly wants to make you a saint.” St. Ignatius of Loyola
Let us, therefore, ask God in this Mass and today, to bolster our resolution to be His faithful follower and to give us the Grace to recognize Him in every challenge of life and follow with perseverance. We pray too for the Grace of self-denial so that we may care more for others in works of charity and make heaven at the end of this earthly life
Just as Faith without good work is dead, prayers without positive action is more deadly
