FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
WORD of the DAY
Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?” (Luke 9: 22 – 25)
How shall I live this Word? 
The path that Jesus proposes is demanding, as evidenced by today’s Word, but we must not misunderstand it. He invites us to be free people who, as such, are also capable of saying no to each other, of not putting their own ‘I’ at the center because what is the use of gaining the whole world if we then lose or ruin ourselves? Conversion to love is conquering freedom, first of all for oneself. We cannot affirm that we love ourselves if we do not live in the freedom of love, which cannot exist without the freedom that makes it authentic. So indulging in everything is not love but dependence, and denying yourself everything is not love, it is masochism.
Lord, grant us the wisdom to take care of and to feel responsible for all that life offers us but without forgetting to follow You, otherwise it would make no sense!
The Voice of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Freedom and life belong to those who conquer them every day.
FMA, Rome E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com Comment by Sr. Emilia Di Massimo, FMA
