There is a quote from Archbishop Oscar
Romero that is very popular with a lot of young people today. In fact, the quote is actually inscribed on
T-shirts now. It says: "Aspire not to have more, but to be
more." This quote so goes against
one of the main messages of the secular world and what most people aspire
to: to have that new smart phone or
computer, to have a big, beautiful house and a new car, to acquire as many material
possession as we can, to have what is best and brand-new. Archbishop Oscar Romero, who will has been
declared a martyr for the faith and who will soon be beatified, encourages us
to look at who we are, not so much as to what we acquire. He asks us to look at how we treat others and
how will live out our lives, at the values we follow.
The Gospel today from Luke asks us to look
at our lives in a different way as well.
Jesus was trying to explain his journey to the cross to his disciples.
Then he told them: If you lose your life for my sake you will save your
life. If you want to be my disciple, you
make take up your cross and follow me.
Losing one's life is counter-intuitive to a lot of what we learn in our
modern world. But that is what Jesus
asks us to do today.
We are at the very start of our Lenten
journey, just one day after Ash Wednesday.
Lent will be what we make out of it this year. Lent is a really good
time for us to look at our lives and to see the ways we need to change, to look
at the values that we follow in life and to look at them in the light of the
Gospel message Jesus proclaims. May
Christ help us on our journey. May his
values and his journey call out to us today and throughout the Lenten season.
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