Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38
“In our Gospel Jesus tells us forcibly what it means to be a believer in him, a true disciple. We are called to walk in his footsteps. We cannot live just for ourselves, just for worldly gain. Following Jesus means saying “no” to our worldly passions and saying “yes” to his call to give to others without counting the cost as he gave to us. We must remember that God’s call is always empowering. He cannot call us without giving us all we need to follow that call. Do I truly surrender my life to Jesus so he can use me as his disciple?”
Bill Adams in The Redemptorists of the Denver Province blogpost for 17 February 2012.