1st Reading: Jer 20:7–9
2nd Reading: Rom 12:1–2
Gospel: Mt 16:21-27
Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem; he would suffer many things from the Jewish authorities, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed and be raised on the third day.
Then Peter took him aside and began to reproach him, “Never, Lord! No, this must never happen to you.” But Jesus turned to him and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path. You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. For whoever chooses to save his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for my sake will find it. What will one gain by winning the whole world if he destroys himself? There is nothing you can give to recover your own self.
“Know that the Son of Man will come in the Glory of his Father with the holy angels, and he will reward each one according to his deeds.”
This is a great challenge as today's culture sets our aim to seek for pleasure, popularity and power. But following Christ, we should be ready for pain, rejections and servanthood for His name. Jesus tells us to renounce ourselves, to empty ourselves of all that is worldly and fill ourselves with His Holy Spirit, thereby enabling us to discern the will of God in our lives and accept it as Jesus accepted His.
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