The Disciples’ Reward

Following Jesus in true discipleship is entering more closely into Christ in such a way that Jesus frees the selfish ego to seek virtue and the glory of divine love over the earth’s passing pleasures. This enables the disciple to grow in intimacy with Christ and give himself/herself totally to the Beloved Son of God even to the point of death, as Jesus the obedient, Suffering Servant showed in His Sacrifice on the Cross. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mk 8:34); “He who will not take up his cross and come after me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:38).

There can be no real following of the Master without true love of God, which empowers the disciple to ‘take up his/her cross’ in the sacrifices encountered daily, including suffering and persecution: “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too” (Jn 15:20). One must be aware of the meaning of the cross not only during Lent but throughout the liturgical season. There is a saying which capsulizes the idea, “No cross, no glory.” The cross is our way to sharing in the glory of God, for whom we were created.

To share in the glory of God is to choose to live in close personal relationship with Christ, thereby widening one’s sphere of loving to go beyond the love of parents and children. ”Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:37). Jesus does not mean to disintegrate family life because elsewhere he insists on the observance of the 4th commandment (Mk 10:17-19). He himself obeyed his parents (Lk 2:51). Jesus’ cross means that in becoming members of the Family of God in the Church and any community, we treat one another as brothers and sisters (cf. Mk 3:33-35). As Jesus did, we also stretch out to the poor, marginalized and excluded, that they too feel welcomed by God (cf. Lk 14:12-14).

It is a challenge for the disciple to reflect the face of Jesus—the face of the Father. This becomes possible with the awareness that one is not alone; Jesus has assured us of his companionship till the end of time. He also guarantees the ‘hundredfold’ to those who have left their families to follow Him (Mk 10:29-30). May our families in the BECs be united as a “communion of communities in the parish” with a stronger sense of missionary participation.