will lose it, but the one who loses his life, for my sake, will find it. What will one gain
by winning the whole world, if he destroys his soul? Or what can a person give, in exchange
for his life? Know, that the Son of Man will come, in the glory of his Father with the holy
angels, and he will reward each one according to his deeds. Truly, I tell you, there are some
standing here who will not taste death, before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Reflect

“Deny yourself.” Paradoxes are part of life. Paradoxes also characterize our faith journey.
It may happen that we can then feel the closeness of God’s presence when faced with serious
problems. It is also then when we can hear God’s message so clearly. Paradoxically, it is
when we reach the limit of our situation that we see our need of God’s salvation. Hence,
salvation ultimately is from God and not from us. Our role is to cooperate with God’s salvific
plan to the best of our ability and to emulate his manner of saving. And what is God’s way of
saving? God’s way of saving is selfless. Our instinctive manner of saving is selfish. We tend
to preserve ourselves rather than allowing God to use us as his instruments in bringing his
salvation for everybody. In today’s Gospel, Jesus clearly told his disciples that the person
choosing to save his life would lose it while the one losing it for Jesus’ sake would find it.
We may reflect that losing our life for Jesus’ sake may mean that we lose it in imitation of
Jesus’ selfgiving salvific act. Salvation is never self-referential. Salvation is always
other-oriented. As Christians, we are called to live out this paradox.

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