Our Lady Of Perpetual Help

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Reflection - Week of June 28

Question of the Week:

What metaphorical “cup of cold water,” some simple thing I can do for someone, will I do this week and for whom?

     Jesus delivers bad news and good news in the Gospel passage we hear today. First the bad news: being a disciple means giving yourself to Jesus. You must take up your cross and live a life of self-sacrifice, putting Christ before not only yourself but even your loved ones. However, the good news is that if you live unselfishly for the sake of the gospel you will be rewarded. When Jesus tells his disciples that “whoever loses his [or her] life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39), he is telling us that if we “lose” our self-centeredness we will find that life in Christ has much greater rewards.

     Saint Paul writes that through baptism we now live in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4). The woman of Shunem gives Elisha a foretaste of the newness of life by offering hospitality to him from the goodness of her heart. In return, Elisha literally promises newness of life in prophesying a newborn son. Jesus promises newness of life to those who become his disciples, who take up their cross and follow him. They will receive the reward of eternal life from the one who is the resurrection and the (newness of) life. To picture the practice of baptism by immersion, which was the norm in Paul’s time, the moment when you cannot breathe is like a death to your old self and sin, followed by a rising to new life.