Today's Thoughts...

Today’s Thoughts: “Always remember this: life is a journey. It is a path, a journey to meet Jesus…. A journey in which we do not encounter Jesus is not a Christian journey. It is for the Christian to continually encounter Jesus, to watch him, to let himself be watched over by Jesus, because Jesus watches us with love; he loves us so much, he loves us so much and he is always watching over us. To encounter Jesus also means allowing oneself to be gazed upon by him. “But, Father, you know,” one of you might say to me, “you know that this journey is horrible for me, I am such a sinner, I have committed many sins... how can I encounter Jesus?” And you know that the people whom Jesus most sought out were the greatest sinners; and they reproached him for this, and the people — those who believed themselves righteous — would say: this is no true prophet, look what lovely company he keeps! He was with sinners... And he said: I came for those in need of salvation, in need of healing. Jesus heals our sins. And along the way Jesus comes and forgives us — all of us sinners, we are all sinners — even when we make a mistake, when we commit a sin, when we sin. And this forgiveness that we receive in Confession is an encounter with Jesus. We always encounter Jesus.” (Pope Francis)
 
Perhaps, Pope Francis’ words today echo the words of Jesus in the Gospel. In today’s Gospel Jesus talks about the demands of discipleship. He talks about the journey ahead for all who will call themselves Christian. It will be demanding. It will not be easy. But it will always be an encounter with Jesus. At no point in the journey will we ever be alone.
 
The challenge is to place our trust in Jesus. To let go and let God. To be willing to lose our life in order to save it. In our time, many think in order to be successful, in order to profit we must gather as many things as possible. We must try to gain the whole world but as Jesus says in doing so we will lose everything.
 
Let us take up our crosses today and follow the journey of Jesus. Have a great Friday everyone!