March 6, 2025

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Lectionary 220

Luke 9:22-25

"What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?"

Meditation

That's the bottom line?" This is a question often asked when people face an undertaking. There is more than a bottom line to look at. What's beyond the bottom line? How does our activity affect our health and relationships with family, community, or friends? The bottom line may indicate a profit, but at what cost? The gospel tells us that the ultimate bottom line is salvation. That's the reality lens through which we should look at our lives. That lens is not rose-colored. Jesus makes it very clear. "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." The bottom line here is salvation attained through the victory of the cross

Mary lived the gospel fully at La Salette. She reminds us, "However much you pray, however much you do, you will never be able to repay the pains I have taken for you." Mary carried her cross, and she asked us to do the same..