As we approach Easter, we are called to talk and reflect about the meaning of the cross, the meaning of the suffering and the meaning of the death of Jesus. And the question is: Why did Jesus accept to die on the cross? What does the cross mean for us today? We know and we believe that Jesus died for us, sinners. And by dying on the cross, Jesus is telling us that the cross is the way to salvation. Therefore the cross is the ticket to heaven. That means if we want to get to heaven, we must die to ourselves. If we want to go to eternal life, we have to be forgetful to ourselves, we have to let go. This is what Jesus wants to teach us when he talks about the grain of wheat.
So, in today’s gospel, we read that Jesus says that the hour has come, time to suffer, time to be crucified and time to died. It is hard but He chose to face suffering and death to give us eternal life. He sacrificed his life for us by accepting to die on the cross. That is why He used the example of a grain of wheat dying in order to produce fruits. He was talking about Himself. He was talking about his suffering and death. But also, in speaking about the grain of wheat, Jesus is talking about our lives as Catholic Christians. He speaks to us about what it means to be his disciples, what it means to live out our Christian vocation. So, to follow Jesus and be Christian, we must die to ourselves. We have to be forgetful. Otherwise we cannot be fruitful disciples. We cannot bring life, joy and peace.
This is the message for today. The problem is that in our lives we like to be happy but sometimes we are not able to pass through sufferings. We want this or that from God but we cannot kneel in prayer to get them. We want to go to heaven, but we cannot avoid evil. We want to follow Jesus, but we don’t want to suffer for others. We want to be disciples of Jesus but we don’t want to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others. In this point, how can we die to ourselves? How can we impact people around us? There are many ways to be fruitful disciples, there are many ways to die to ourselves. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me.
