In today's gospel from Matthew 16:24-38, Jesus tells his disciples, ''If anyone wants to be follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.'' Jesus lived a life of total dedication of love and service which led to his death on the cross. So for his followers at that time to follow him meant the possibility of persecution and crucifixion. But for us today, the cross is a cherished sign of the outpouring of love and forgiveness and a willingness to respond by a life of total dedication to Jesus, living out his misson in our lives today. He calls us to die to our own desires by renouncing the same temptations that he faced in the desert; accumulation of material goods, fame and power. Today we celebrate a saint who in our own lifetime was called to give her life to follow Jesus. She was born Edith Stein in Poland in 1891. From a Jewish family, she studied philosphy and on receiving a doctorate at Freiburg University, she taught there until Jews were forbidden to take public office. Through reading the life of Teresa of Avila she was converted and baptized in 1922. She joined the Carmelites and was professed in 1934 as Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. With her sister Rosa, she was sent to a monastery in the Netherlands for greater safety but when the Dutch Bishops denounced the Nazis for their treatment of Jewish people, she, Rosa and 244 others were taken to Auschwitz concentration camp where they were killed in the gas chamber in 1942. We are not called to die like Teresa but we can be inspired by her to live a life of similar dedication.
Don Hornsey
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