Ad Jesum per Mariam

Jesus Tells Us: The One Who Loses His Life Will Save It! What Does He Really Mean?

Jesus Tells Us: The One Who Loses His Life Will Save It! What Does He Really Mean? The Gospel that we have today is a continuation of what we read yesterday. Yesterday, the Pharisees came to Jesus and asked him, When is the kingdom of God going to come? That was the question. And Jesus said, The kingdom of God cannot be observed. You won’t see someone who is going to announce that here it is or there it is. No. In fact, the kingdom of God is among you. That is was what Jesus said yesterday. The kingdom of God is before you. With the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, the full revelation of God, the kingdom of God is among us. And then he continues by turning to his disciples and telling them that there shall come a time when you’ll be looking for the son of man and there’ll be different people that will come that will say I’m here. Do not listen to them because just like the lightning so will the son of man come. But first he must suffer. And now, our gospel continues from there. When The Son of Man Is Revealed The gospel that we have read today, in which Jesus says, just as it was in the time of Noah, so it will be when the Son of Man will be revealed. And what was happening in the time of Noah? As we have heard, people were eating. drinking, marrying and given to marriage, business as usual, until they saw Noah going into the ark and the floods came. They were destroyed. And Jesus says again, just as it was in the time of Lot, so it will be when the Son of Man is revealed. And what was happening in the time of Lot? People were eating, drinking, marrying, giving to marriage, buying and selling, planting, until Lot left Sodom. Fire and brimstone rained down on them and they were destroyed. Jesus Teaches Us A Lesson What is Jesus inviting you and me? He’s inviting us to hold on to what is essential. Which at times may look like losing our own lives. Eating, drinking, marrying, given to marriage, planting, buying and selling. These are the usual things that we do which help us in our bodily life to survive. Some of them for just our own entertainment. But just as Jesus has said, he who preserves his life, he who only satisfies himself, he who is only limited to the bodily use, will lose his life. But the one who loses it, will save it. And by losing it, what does it mean? Listen more to this Meditation Media. Listen to: Jesus Tells Us: The One Who Loses His Life Will Save It! What Does He Really Mean? ------------------------------- Image: The Exhortation to the Apostles: French Painter: James Tissot: 1886 Part of the online collection of the Brooklyn Museum. ------------------------------- Gospel Reading: Luke: 17: 26-37 First Reading: 2 JN 4-9

Duration:: 11m
Broadcast on:: 18 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

The Lord be with you, a reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. Jesus said to his disciples, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it would be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark. And the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating, drinking, buying, setting, planting, building, on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone, rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it would be on the day of the Son of Man when the Son of Man is revealed, on that day someone who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them. And likewise, one in the field must not return to what was left behind. Remember the wife of Lot, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed, one will be taken, the other left, and there will be two women grinding meal together. One will be taken, the other left. They say to him in reply, "Where, Lord?" He say to them, "Where the body is, there also, the vouchers will gather." The gospel of the Lord. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will save it. As it is getting colder, it is becoming interesting. See people, read their coming hearts and know that. This is quite unusual in comparison to back home. So I think that a lot that I am to learn as time goes by. And I don't know if at all we remember the gospel of yesterday. And most of the times when this question is asked, men of us would bow our heads down, thinking that maybe you will be asking to say, "What was the gospel of yesterday about it?" But the gospel that we have today is a continuation of what we read yesterday. Yesterday the Pharisees came to Jesus and asked him, "When is the kingdom of God going to come?" That was the question. And Jesus said, "The kingdom of God cannot be observed." You won't see someone who is going to announce that here it is, or there it is. No. In fact, the kingdom of God is among you. That was what Jesus said yesterday. The kingdom of God is before you. With the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, the full reverberation of God, the kingdom of God is among us. And then he continues by turning to his disciples and telling them, "Then there shall come a time when you will be looking for the Son of Man, and there will be different people that will come, that will say, "I'm not listening, but do not listen to them." Because just like the lightning, so will the Son of Man come. But first he must suffer. And now our gospel picks from there, the gospel that we have read today, in which Jesus says, "Just as it was in the time of Noah, so with be, when the Son of Man will be revealed." And what was happening in the time of Noah, as we have heard, people were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving to marriage. Business as usual, until the Son of Noah going into the ark. And then floods came, they were destroyed. And he says again, "Just as it was in the time of Lord, so with be, when the Son of Man will be revealed." And what was happening in the time of Lotty, people were eating, drinking, marrying, giving to marriage, buying and selling, planting, until Noah left Sodom. Fire and brimstone ran down on them, and they were destroyed. What is Jesus inviting you and me? He is inviting us to hold on to what is essential, which at times may look like losing our own lives. Eating, drinking, marrying, giving to marriage, planting, buying and selling. And the usual things that we do, which help us in our body life, to survive. Some of them for just our own entertainment. But just as Jesus has said, he who preserves his life. He who only satisfies himself. He who is only limited to the bodily use, who lose his life. But the one who loses it, goes of it. I am losing it. What does it mean? This is what John is saying in the first reading, where he says, "Brothers, let us love one another." For this is the commandment that we are given. And love entails losing oneself. Love entails sacrifice. Love entails going an extra mile. You cannot claim that you love someone if you don't sacrifice. Love entails losing oneself for the sake of the other. And it is in this that we save our life. Just as Jesus himself loved us totally to the point of death. So are we called to do likewise. We cannot claim that we love others without losing ourselves. And today we are celebrating St. Albert the Great. This name the Great comes in because of his intellectual power. This was a man who was literally blessed. He studied a lot, a lot. And his focus was natural science. He was a teacher and he taught biology, physics, metaphysics, mathematics and whatever. But in all these he recognized that God comes first. And he used all this knowledge that he had for the service of others, defending the change. And one of his students is St. Thomas Aquinas whom he taught. And after St. Thomas Aquinas died, Albert the Great continued even defending what St. Thomas wrote. And we know very well that St. Thomas wrote a lot in the church. There is a story told of this student of St. Albert the Great, St. Thomas. After writing everything, our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him and said, St. Thomas, you have done a lot, you have written a lot. What else do you aspire? What else? And then St. Thomas said, yes Lord, I have. But the only thing that I aspire is you, is you Jesus. That is the only thing. Our lives, if we surrender them to our Lord Jesus Christ, if we go into loving others, we are going to save it. And my God help us in our daily endeavors that we love others totally. We sacrifice ourselves in order to receive eternal life. Amen.