Prayer/ Reflection  

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life?

St Clare | Day of penance

Deuteronomy 4:32-40. I remember the deeds of the Lord – Psalm 76:12-16, 21. Matthew 16:24-28.

Where you invest your love, you invest your life

Life is full of trade-offs, we swap our time for money, we invest our life in projects, we exchange freedom for security and we seek comfort over growth. Jesus was aware of the temptation to haggle our lives away and roused his disciples from their slumber with this challenging question, ‘what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?’ Jesus tells us that he came ‘that they may have life, and may have it abundantly’ (John 10:10) but living life to the full doesn’t mean cramming more into life. It’s not about living with the anxiety of FOMO (fear of missing out), stuffing our calendars full of good things, at the expense of peace. The Mumford and Sons song ‘Awake My Soul’ takes this one step further with the line, ‘where you invest your love, you invest your life’. So, what needs trading-in to awaken your soul?