From the responsorial psalm: "The LORD brings to nought the plans of nations; he foils the designs of peoples. But the plan of the LORD stands forever; the design of his heart, through all generations. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (8:34—9:1, today's readings)

"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life?"

Speaking both to the crowds and to his disciples, Jesus teaches them the necessity of denying oneself and taking up one's cross. In this dense teaching, he says the word life four times. To gain one's life is to lose it for the sake of Christ; to detach from all that the world offers is to work toward coming into his kingdom in his Father's glory, the Second Coming. If to profit in this life means to forfeit the life of the world to come, all the profit in the world is loss. The paradoxes Jesus shares—all centering around life and the cross—are not clever inversions but truth spoken by the person of truth, the Incarnate Word. What is our truthful response to the Word made flesh and the nature of his relationship with us? The Gospel acclamation makes this clear: "I call you my friends, says the Lord, for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me."

God, let me remember the words of Saint Peter Damian as he speaks about the necessity of carrying the cross. He said, "For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection." The people in the first reading were united by a common language but saw their unity crumble in the tower they built out of self-adulation. In the midst of the day, help me lose life for your sake so that I gain it. Give me the grace to detach from what is transient and work for the profits that bring me to you in the unity of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ your Son. Saint Peter Damian, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.