Retreat meditation: an invitation to follow Christ

“Are you able to drink of the cup… We are able!” (Mt 20, 22). James and John with noble ambition ask the Lord to be allowed to sit at his side in glory; a sublime ambition, and Jesus responds with the great adventure upon which they will embark, if they truly desire this: You will have to run a tremendous risk to achieve this. Are you able to drink my chalice, and be baptized with the baptism with which I will be baptized? - Yes, we are able! Here we have our duty: to risk ourselves every day for the sake of eternal life… To risk oneself means to run a risk: a total lack of security! He who wishes to save himself has to risk all. There is no risk when there is no danger or doubt, anxiety or fear. The nobility and excellence of faith, which singles it out from the other virtues, is the greatness of heart it presupposes in the one who dares to risk.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb11,1). The essence of faith is to make present what we do not see; to work in hope for what we await with hope but do not yet possess; to risk all to finally attain it.

The Apostles James and John were not completely aware of all they were proposing but in the depths of their hearts a prophecy relating to their future conduct was being revealed in these words. They surrendered themselves without reserve and were taken hold of and made captive by Someone stronger than themselves. Although they knew little of the extent of their offering, they gave themselves from the heart and were accepted in this spirit: Are you able to drink… Yes, we are able! You shall indeed drink of my cup and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized! (Mt 20,22)

Our Lord acted in the same way with St. Peter: He accepted the offering of his service though he advised Peter of how unaware he was of what he was proposing.

The rich young man who went away sad when Jesus asked him to leave all and follow him, offers us a case of one who does not dare to risk this world for the next, basing his trust on the word of the Lord.

Conclusion: If faith is the essence of the Christian life, it follows that our duty is to risk all that we have on the basis of Christ’s word, for the hope of what we do not yet possess; and we must do so in a noble, generous way without levity although we cannot see all that our offering involves, nor what we are to receive, but we are confident that He will be true to His promise, and that we will be given the strength to fulfill our promises and thus abandon all anxiety and concern for the future.

When we consider the consequences, the objections begin to arise.

Many concede to priests the right to preach abstract doctrine but when they discover that they themselves are involved, they begin to search for excuses: they do not see that “this” follows from “that” or else they think that “this is an exaggeration” or “foolishness”, that we have forgotten the times we live in, the customs of today’s world, etc… With reason it has been said: “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” There is not a truth, no matter how resplendent, which a man cannot escape if he closes his eyes; nor is there a duty so urgent, that 10,000 reasons cannot be found to avoid it. Such people are sure that it is an “exaggeration” when one is doing nothing more than applying the evident.

Think about it. What have you sacrificed for the promise of Christ? In each risk something must be sacrificed: we venture our lands for a profit when we have faith in a commercial project. What have we ventured for Christ? What have we given him, confident in his promise? This is the problem: what have we dared to risk?

For example, St. Barnabas had property in Cyprus: he gave it to the poor of Christ. Here we have a sacrifice, he did something he would not have done if the Gospel of Christ were false… And it is clear that if the Gospel of Christ were false (an impossibility) this would have been a bad business deal; it would be like a businessman who failed or one whose ships were sunk at sea.

A man has confidence in another man, he trusts his neighbour, he risks, but Christians do not risk much in virtue of the words of Christ and this is the very thing we should do. Christ warns us to “Make use of your base wealth to win yourselves friends, who when you leave it behind, will welcome you into eternal habitations” (Lk 16, 9). This is to say, sacrifice for the future world what those without faith use so badly: clothe the naked, feed the hungry…

In the same way, those with potentially successful prospects in this world who abandon them to be closer to Him, to make their lives a sacrifice and an apostolate, are thereby risking all for Christ. Or those others like Daniel or St. Paul who desire perfection, abandon their earthly projects and with dedication and enormous effort live lives illumined only by the life to come. Or another who finds himself surrounded by what the world calls evil and though he trembles he prays: “Your will be done.” All of them risk what they can in faith.

The acceptance

God hears these and their words are listened to, although they may not know the extent of what they are offering, but God knows that they give what they can and risk a great deal. They are generous hearts like John, James and Peter who often speak a great deal about what they want to do for Christ, they speak sincerely but in ignorance; nonetheless they are heard for their sincerity although with time they will learn the seriousness of their offering. They tell Christ: “We can”, and their words are heard in heaven.

This is what happens to us in many things in life. For example in Confirmation, when we renew what was promised in our name at Baptism, we do not know all that we are really proposing but we trust in God and we hope that He will give us the strength to fulfill it. We see this again when people enter religious life, they do not know what they have embarked upon, nor to what extent, nor do they realize how seductive are the worldly things they have left behind.

And in many similar situations a man finds himself choosing to follow a path in the name of religion that might perhaps lead him to martyrdom. The goal of his path remains hidden. He only knows that this is what he must do and he hears a whisper from within that tells him whatever difficulty may arise, God will give sufficient grace to make him equal to the demands of the mission.

His Apostles said: We can! and God gave them the capacity to suffer what they suffered: James, the first of the Apostles, pierced through in Jerusalem; John even more, the last to die, years of loneliness, exile and weakness. With reason, John will say at the end of his life: “Come Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22,20), like those who are weary of the night and hope for the morning.

We are not content with what we possess; beyond the joys, we aspire to carry the cross so that later we may wear the crown. What are our risks today, based on his Word? Jesus expressly tells us: “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life…But many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first.”