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"And he said to all, 'If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.'" Let us look often at our crucifixes. Let us strive to understand the devotion to the Sacred Heart: it is not merely a question of our own consolation, but also of reparation on our part. We must concern ourselves with this God who came to seek our love, who desires it, and who finds the greatest glory when we respond generously to him. — Mother Marie Des Douleurs

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Sunday Readings
The first reading is taken from the book of the prophet Zechariah, 12:10-11, and is a description of messianic Jerusalem receiving divine blessings through the intervention of someone who suffers and dies for the people. This text was applied to the piercing of Christ's side.

The second reading is from the letter of Paul to the Galatians, 3:26-29. False teachers had told the Galatians that all Christians should live according to Jewish rules. In this beautiful passage Paul says that baptism makes anyone a child of God.

The Gospel is from St. Luke, 9:18-24, in which Peter professes his faith that Christ is the Messiah. Jesus predicts His passion and says if anyone wants to follow Him he must take up his cross. Christ is saying this again, to us, whispering it in our ears: the cross each day. As St Jerome puts it: 'Not only in time of persecution or when we have the chance of martyrdom, but in all circumstances, in everything we do and think, in everything we say, let us deny what we used to be and let us confess what we now are, reborn as we have been in Christ' (Epistola 121, 3) Do you see? The daily cross. No day without a cross; not a single day in which we are not to carry the cross of the Lord, in which we are not to accept his yoke" (J. Escriva, Christ is passing by, 58 and 176). "There is no doubt about it: a person who loves pleasure, who seeks comfort, who flies from anything that might spell suffering, who is overanxious, who complains, who blames and who becomes impatient at the least little thing which does not go his way — a person like that is a Christian only in name; he is only a dishonour to his religion; for Jesus Christ has said so: Anyone who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross everyday of his life, and follow me" (St John Mary Vianney, Selected sermons, Ash Wednesday).

The Cross should be present not only in the life of every Christian but also at the crossroads of the world: "How beautiful are those crosses on the summits of high mountains, and crowning great monuments, and on the pinnacles of cathedrals...! But the Cross must also be inserted in the very heart of the world.

"Jesus wants to be raised on high, there in the noise of the factories and workshops, in the silence of libraries, in the loud clamour of the streets, in the stillness of the fields, in the intimacy of the family, in crowded gatherings, in stadiums.... Wherever there is a Christian striving to lead an honourable life, he should, with his love, set up the Cross of Christ, who attracts all things to himself" (J. Escriva, The Way of the Cross, XI, 3). — The Navarre Bible - St. Luke