Nahum 2:1; 3:1-3, 6-7; Matthew 16:24-28
By Father Peter Latouf
Corporate Communion of the Faculty and Staff of St. Peter Catholic School
Teaching in a Catholic School is also a ministry. By helping children learn their math, reading, science, and history, you’re helping to form young Christians. That’s a privilege but we all know it’s a big responsibility.
The timing of today’s readings fits in perfectly with the beginning of the school year. Jesus says something to us that always sounds a little surprising: Whoever comes after me must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. I think it’s important to hear that part carefully and correctly. Sometimes when people hear, “Take up your cross and follow me,” they think Jesus means we’re supposed to go looking for suffering. That’s not at all what Jesus is saying.
What Taking Up Our Cross Really Means
The cross comes from being faithful. For the apostles, following Jesus meant that they would eventually face opposition because they refused to stop preaching the gospel. But for us, the cross looks a lot more ordinary. Our cross might be choosing to do the right thing when it’s difficult, or choosing to be patient when you’re tired, or telling the truth when a lie would be more convenient. That might be your cross. Forgiving someone when you’d rather stay annoyed is a big cross we’re called to carry.
A lot of our lives as Christians and as teachers happens in those ordinary moments. It occurred to me that teachers probably make hundreds of decisions every single day. Most of them are decisions that no one will ever notice… deciding whether to encourage a struggling student, or choosing to be patient with a child who’s acting out, or spending a little extra time helping someone who just doesn’t get it. Those moments don’t make the news. Other people may never know about them. But over the course of a school year, those decisions change people’s lives.
Opportunities to Follow Christ in Ordinary Moments
The same thing is true of all of us, whether you’re a teacher or retired or working in an office or raising children or volunteering somewhere. Most of our opportunities to follow Christ don’t come in dramatic moments. They come in those ordinary moments, in daily decisions, one kind conversation, one act of honesty, one moment of patience, one decision to do the right thing even when no one else would know. That’s usually where holiness grows.
When we heard that first reading today from Nahum, there’s a big contrast there. Nahum is talking about a certain city, Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire at the time. For generations, Nineveh was a very powerful city, wealthy and feared throughout the ancient world. If you came from Nineveh, you thought you were on the top, and no one could ever touch you or mess with you. But it collapsed. The whole empire actually collapsed. The city of Nineveh disappeared, and for centuries people weren’t even sure where Nineveh was until they found it many, many years later. That’s what that first reading is all about. It’s telling people, “Hey, things can disappear much faster than people expect.
Our Goal as Christians Is Not Worldly Success
Jesus, on the other hand, points to the things that last forever! There’s something the Church is doing here: The first reading is about something that disappears, while the Gospel is about something that lasts forever. Jesus says, “What profit would there be for you to gain the whole world but lose your life?” That’s a good question. It’s a good question to ask at the beginning of a school year, too. Jesus reminds us: Don’t lose sight of the big picture. That’s the point. Our goal is not just to be successful people in life. Our goal is to become faithful people.
Being faithful is not always what the world says is successful. Teachers, take that with you as an encouragement for as we begin another year. The work that you do matters, often in ways you won’t see right away. You’re in the business of preparing for the future. A kind word, a patient explanation, an example of your own faith…those things might stay with a student for years and years and years.
Ordinary Moments Are Where the Christian Life Is Usually Lived
For the rest of us, the challenge is the same, wherever God has placed us. Today gives us another opportunity to follow Christ in the ordinary responsibilities that He has entrusted to us. Those ordinary moments might not be very exciting at the time, but that’s usually where the Christian life is actually lived. So, today when Jesus asks us to take up our cross, that’s what we’re called to do. It’s going to happen in those little, small moments when you’d rather not do something, but you say, “Okay, Lord, you want me to do this, so I’ll do it.” But be sure that you discern well that’s what Jesus wants you to do! Have the patience to make those right decisions in those little moments. I think that’s how we truly take up our cross.
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