True Discipleship
Posted:1/30/2008 1:08:30 PM
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Twenty-Second Sunday of the Year |
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 Jeremiah 20:7-9
Burdened by the hardships of following God's way, Jeremiah complains of how difficult his life is. Yet he admits that he cannot help but continue. God's love burns in him, and he must respond.
Romans 12:1-2
Paul asks the disciples in Rome to take a clear look at how they live and not to let the influence of their culture stop them from doing the right thing.
Matthew 16:21-27
Peter does not want Jesus to go forward into Jerusalem and suffer. Jesus rebukes him and warns the disciples about the difficulty of true discipleship.
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| This Week... |
| Peer pressure is tough on any person, of any age and in any age. It is tough on Jeremiah, who is mocked and humiliated. It is tough on Paul and the early church. It is tough on Peter and Jesus. But the message is clear: To be a disciple, we must pick up our cross and carry it. We must lose our life if we wish to save it. Discipleship is not easy, but it is the only way. |
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| For Your Reflection |
| The world is full of peer pressure. It doesn't go away when you grow out of your teen years. How are TV commercials and ad campaigns forms of peer pressure? What do they try to persuade us to do? How successful are they? How are movies that contain a lot of violence or sexual activity forms of peer pressure? What do they persuade us to do? How successful are they? How are the church and the Gospel message forms of peer pressure? How does the faith community try to persuade us to live? How successful is that effort? Why? Being a disciple of Jesus' is not easy, because the world is filled with all kinds of temptations and negatve messages, right alongside the support and the positive messages. What are some negative messages in the real world that are hard to avoid? What's the secret to ignoring negative messages? What are some positive messages in the real world? How can you support the positive messages? What would make them even more effective? |
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Excerpt from In Touch With the Word, Cycle A, 2008.
Used with written permission of
Saint Mary's Press, 702 Terrace Heights, Winona, MN 55987-1320.
All rights reserved.
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