Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. - Matthew
When I started meditating on Jesus’ call to find our lives by losing them for his sake, I thought about heroic figures like St. Maximillian Kolb who was murdered in a German concentration camp or Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day who gave her life to New York’s poorest people.
Then I encountered a group of regular people who also have lived this passage: fellow members of St. John’s Church at Creighton who participated in a small group discussion program focusing on elder spirituality. I’ve known most of them for years but never knew the depths of their spirituality because they are unassuming, reticent Midwesterners.
There’s a woman who has spent years foster parenting mentally ill children, lots of retired nurses who view their careers as a ministry, teachers, lawyers and other professionals. But whatever their careers, I learned that they all pray regularly and serve others as an integral part of their prayer life. These joyful people delight in their families, especially their grandchildren, and are grateful for their gifts, including the wisdom and perspective that age gives them. They credit our Jesuits with nurturing their passion for social justice.
If I had asked my friends if they had “lost their lives” in order to find them, most would have laughed at me. It was obvious that prayer and service are central to the rich lives they have “found.” They talk about what they CAN do even if age imposes physical limits. Watch out world!
In this passage, Jesus also tells us that “Whoever finds his life will lose it.” I interpret this as a warning against worshiping false idols like money and power. It was interesting that no one mentioned making lots of money or being what one of my friends calls a “PIP” – a previously important person -- -- as central to the meaning of their lives. Instead, they talked about the satisfaction of believing they had made a difference in other people’s lives. As today’s gospel commands, they have found their own lives by losing them for others.
I’m grateful to share our pews with such inspiring people and grateful for a program that strengthened my already strong sense of community. How rewarding to learn that retired nurses and teachers can exemplify today’s gospel along with martyrs and heroes.
Incidentally, St. John’s used the “synodality model” to frame these discussions. In this model, all participants must speak about themselves, listen to everyone else then share their reactions to what others have said. Even people who normally would never discuss their prayer life or something as pretentious as their life mission opened up because the format required them to do so.
Eileen Wirth
I’m a retired Creighton journalism professor, active in St. John’s parish and a CLC member. In retirement, I write books about state and local history, including a history of the parish, and do volunteer PR consulting for groups like Habitat for Humanities, refugees etc. I love to read, work out, spend time with family and friends including those who can no longer get out much.
Writing reflections has deepened my faith by requiring me to engage deeply with Jesus through the Scriptures. In the many years I have been doing this, I’ve also formed friendships with regular readers nationally, most of whom I have never met. Hearing from readers and what I learn by writing make the hours I spend on each reflection well worth the effort.
