This weekend I continue a new message series called “ALL IN—Becoming Faithful Disciples in Our World Today”. I will be preaching the entire series at the 5 PM Mass at Blessed Sacrament and at all the Masses I celebrate on the weekend. We will also post each homily on our website. Here is the breakdown of the homilies for the series:
September 6/7 – MAINTAINING THE TOP PRIORITY
September 13/14 – APPOINTED FOR GREATNESS
September 20/21 – JUMPING INTO THE DEEP END
October 4/5 – THE PERFECT PLACE TO GROW
If you miss any of the series you can watch or listen to each homily with this link: https://revjj.ca/all-in-message-series/
MAINTAINING THE TOP PRIORITY
Last weekend I preached the first homily of this series focusing on the fact that if we truly want to be disciples of Christ we must place Him first in our lives and above everything else.
Our goal is not to simply be followers who walk behind the Lord and wonder where He is going but disciples who walk side by side with Christ. The top priority is to develop a powerful and loving relationship with Jesus that puts everything else in perspective.
APPOINTED FOR GREATNESS
In this second message of the series, I want to focus on the fact that Jesus chooses us for greatness. This greatness is not rooted in fame, fortune, power or pride. It is rooted in the cross—which is not only the symbol of our Christian faith but our opportunity to sacrifice, serve and love Jesus and all those who are in need. This weekend we are celebrating the Feast of the Exultation of the Cross which falls on a Sunday this year. This feast highlights the power of the cross in our lives as a triumph and not an end.
(1) THE CROSS IS LOVE
Jesus showed His love for all of us when He willingly offered His life on the cross for our salvation. Christ freely chose to reconcile us to the Father by offering His entire life for us. The perfect act of love is to offer yourself for the sake of others. Jesus embraced the cross out of complete love for the Heavenly Father and all of humanity. Christ transforms the crucifixion from an act of humiliation to a gracious act of complete self-sacrifice.
Jesus appoints each of us through the power of the Holy Spirit to share the love of God in everything we do. Being a disciple means that we share the Cross of Christ in our daily lives. We are called through the cross to love God and love others. We do this in the way we treat others in our words and actions. How far will we go to love God and love others? Will we love as strong as the cross?
(2) THE CROSS IS SACRIFICE
Jesus freely gives up His life for our salvation. He does this out of complete love for us and obedience to the Father in heaven. Love always includes sacrifice because true love goes beyond ourselves to others. Sacrifice takes place through our choices.
Sacrificing our own personal comfort, needs and wants shows us our commitment to who and what we value the most. We are always willing to sacrifice for the people we love and the values that we hold dear to our hearts.
The cross reminds us that if are going to be disciples, we are called to sacrifice for the proclamation of the Gospel. This means making a commitment to attend Mass, spend time in daily prayer, the Sacrament of Reconciliation and serving those around us—both within and beyond our family of parishes. We can experience powerful graces when we sacrifice out of love and faith.
(3) THE CROSS IS LIFE
The cross invites us to think beyond this passing world as the doorway to eternal life. There are countless saints in the history of the Church who were martyrs, offering their lives for the sake of others in need while embracing the promised gift of an eternal reward. One that is close to my heart is St. Maximilian Kolbe, who offered his life for another prisoner at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland during the Second World War. The cross does not mean death but life and eternity. This is the perfect and powerful sign of greatness that we should embrace through faithful and loving service.
