Can one person make a difference?

YES!!!

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

– Ghandi

All you have to do is be the best version of yourself.

If you want to see love in the world...then love. 

If you want to see service...then serve.

If you want there to be peace... then forgive all those who have wrong you.

If you want to see an end to hunger and poverty... then share your food and possessions.

Authentic Discipleship - Kleinguetl

Epistle:  Hebrews 4:14 – 5:6 Gospel:  Mark 8:34 – 9:1  

Authentic Discipleship

Glory to Jesus Christ!                            Slava Isusu Christu!                        

“If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and follow in my steps.”[1] In this our third Sunday of the Great Fast, we are reminded that the way to the joy of the Resurrection is through the cross.   Let’s be honest with ourselves.  Wouldn’t we really rather have a Messiah who promises to deliver us from pain and suffering versus one who offers us a path of pain and suffering?  That is why the sweet sounding promises of secular society sometimes seem so much more appealing – empty promises of instant happiness, in contrast to Jesus telling us that his way is the way of the cross.

This is a reality check for us as Christians because Jesus did not promise us an easy way; he does not deceive regarding the challenges.  His words are quite clear in terms of what authentic discipleship is – denial of self.  Love of self was the ruin of the first man, Adam, who preferred self to God.[2] Thus, Jesus came to model the way for us; to show us how to live in right relationship with the Father – a relationship that is completely dependent upon Him. Jesus also tells us plainly that the way to salvation is one of suffering.  Yet, “Jesus never called anyone to do or face anything which he was not willing to do or face himself.”[3]

  We are not asked to go the road alone; rather, we are asked to follow Jesus in his steps.

To put this particular Gospel passage into greater context, just a few verses before, Jesus asks his disciples:  “But, who do you say I am?” and Peter gives his famous profession of faith, “You are the Messiah!”  Jesus is recognized as the deliverer of the people.  Immediately after this passage, in fact the very next verse, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up Mount Tabor where he is transfigured before their eyes; a foretaste of the glory that is to come.  In between these events, Jesus defines authentic discipleship: self-denial, bearing our crosses, and following his way.

For us on our spiritual journey, this Gospel passage truly challenges us to integrate the reality of Jesus’ suffering (and our own) into our understanding of who Jesus is and what authentic discipleship means.[4]

  

• Are willing to surrender ourselves and endure the afflictions and trials that come our way?[5]
• Do we really believe that everything that happens to us is through the providence of God, and ordered for our benefit?[6]
• Do we really believe that He has a plan for us[7]; that sometimes we need to walk by faith and not by sight? [8] 

We are told the way to salvation requires total commitment and we are warned that a self-centered existence, despite all the secular promises to the contrary, will only result in us losing the lives we are so often desperately trying to preserve.[9]  We could choose to go the way of Adam, yet Jesus re-ordered our thinking about suffering and modeled the true way through his self-emptying; he knew what lay ahead beyond Mount Tabor; he did not shy away from trials and hardships,  but accepted them willingly for our sake.  (“Father, not what I will, but what You will.”[10])  We in turn are asked to do the same.  We are asked to ponder the meaning of the cross in our own lives.  What burdens does he ask us to bear?  What is God trying to tell us?  Is he trying to tell us not to worry;[11] that his grace is sufficient for us? [12]

While ponder the cross and its meaning in our lives, let’s put everything into even broader context in terms of our journey through the Great Fast toward Easter; how the Church Fathers have ordered the roadmap for us and pinpoint where we are today.

• On the First Sunday of Lent, we began with the Triumph of Orthodoxy:  recalling that our choice should be the True Faith, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, over heresies – including the empty promises of our secular society today.
• Last week, the Second Sunday of Lent, we commemorated St. Gregory Palamas and were reminded that we as human beings can become divine (theosis, as we know it) through the grace of God in the Holy Spirit.
• Today, the Third Sunday of Lent, we are told the way of salvation is the way of the cross and authentic discipleship is defined for us.
• Next week, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, we will commemorate St. John Climacus and “The Ladder,” which describes a process of purification beginning with humility (or, denial of self) and which leads us to our heavenly home through gradual transformation.
• The Fifth Sunday of Lent we will commemorate St. Mary of Egypt and will be reminded that God’s love extends to all – that anyone can choose God and repent.
• Finally, on Palm Sunday, we will be asked to consider where we will stand:  with the fickle crowd who one day is shouting Hosanna, hailing the hero of the day, only later the same week to be shouting, “Crucify him!”  Or, we will be one of the faithful few to remain with Jesus at the foot of the cross?

This is the roadmap of our Lenten journey.  So, this week let us ponder Jesus’ message of the cross carefully.  His message is unambiguous; the choice of discipleship is ours.

Finally, let us consider some words of guidance from the classic, Unseen Warfare:

“Follow willingly in the footsteps of the Lord not only to Mount Tabor, but also to Golgotha, in other words, not only when you feel divine light and spiritual joys and delights within you, but also when you are assailed by darkness, afflictions, stress and bitterness, which the soul has to experience at times from the temptations of the demons, both inner and outer. Even if this cooling (of your heart) is accompanied by such darkness and confusion that you do not know what to do and where to turn, have no fear. Stand firm in your place, remain submissively on your cross and cast far away from you every earthly comfort, which the world or flesh choose to offer, prompted by the enemy.”[13]

As we approach the Holy Table today to partake of the Precious Body and Life-giving Blood of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, Christ our guide on the journey and truly present in our midst, let us pray that we be strengthened to accept authentic discipleship in our lives:  to deny ourselves, accept our crosses, and follow him no matter where he leads us.  As we heard in our Epistle, Jesus knows our struggles and we can confidently approach His throne to ask for mercy. [14]

Glory to Jesus Christ!                            Slava Isusu Christu!

¹Mark 8:34. 

²Cf. Caesarius of Arles, Sermons, 159.  Taken from Taken from Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (ACCS), New Testament Vol. II, “Mark,” Thomas C. Oden and Christopher A. Hall, ed., Thomas C. Oden, gen. ed. (InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1998): 112. 

³William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, from The New Daily Study Bible series (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2001): 234. 

⁴John R. Donahue, SJ and Daniel J. Herrington, SJ, The Gospel of Mark.  Sacra Pagina series, Vol. 2, Daniel J. Herrington, ed.  (Collegeville, Minnesota:  The Liturgical Press, 2002), 266. 

⁵Cf. Wisdom 3:5-6.  “Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings, He took them to Himself.”

⁶“Above all let us be convinced that nothing can happen to us apart from the providence of God.” Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings. Transl. Eric P. Wheeler. Taken from Cistercian Studies Series, No. 33, (Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Michigan): 1977. 143.  (Discourse VII, “On Self-accusation.”) 

⁷Cf. Jeremiah 29:11-14. 

⁸Cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7 

⁹Cf. Mark 8:35. 

¹⁰Mark 14:36. 

¹¹Cf. Matthew 6:25-34. 

                 ¹²Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:9. 

¹³Unseen Warfare, being the “Spiritual Combat” and “Path to Paradise” of Lorenzo Scupoli, as edited by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and revised by Theophan the Recluse.  Transl. by E. Kadloubovsky and GEH Palmer, (Faber and Faber, London, 1963):  188-189. 

¹⁴Cf. Hebrews 4:15-16. 

Click here for more Homilies from Fr. Deacon Ed Kleinguetl

Surviving Nazi Death Camps

"But one thing I beg you"; he continued, "shave daily, if at all possible, even if you have to use a piece of glass to do it...even if you have to give you last piece of bread for it. You will look younger and the scraping will make your cheeks look ruddier. If you want to stay alive, there is only one way: look fit for work. If you even limp, because let us say, you have a blister on your heel, and an SS man spots this, he will wave you aside and the next day you are sure to be gassed. Do you know what we mean by a 'Moslem'? A man who looks miserable, down and out, sick and emaciated, and who can not manage hard physical labor any longer... that is a 'Moslem'. Sooner or later, usually sooner, every 'Moslem' goes to the gas chambers. Therefore, remember: shave, stand and walk smartly; then you need not be afraid of gas."

The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of trick learned while mastering the art of living. Yet, it is possible to practice the art of living even in a concentration camp, although suffering is omnipresent. To draw an analogy: a man's suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore, the size of human suffering is absolutely relative. 

Seen from this point of view, the mental reactions of the inmates of a concentration camp must be seen more to us than the mere expression of certain physical and sociological conditions. Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him--mentally and spiritually. He may retain his dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevski said once, "There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worth my sufferings." These words frequently came to my mind after I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost. It can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spiritual freedom -- which cannot be taken away -- that makes life meaningful and purposeful. 
 
--Man's Search For Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl, Book I, pgs 19, 44, 66-67

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