Requiring Guts

The message of Jesus is not an easy one.  It's not an invitation to a comfortable life or to a sweet feeling after having helped someone.  Not, Jesus invites us to take up the cross and follow him.  Can we do it?  Today's Gospel tells the story of how his neighbors in Nazareth, his synagogue compatriots  "took offense"   at his teaching and questioned his "authority" to teach as he did.  (See Mt 13: 54-58).
We remember St. Alphonsus Ligouri today as well, who, after losing a case as a lawyer, took a good look at where his life was going and decided to change direction.  He became a priest, the Founder of the Redemptorists, a noted moral theologian, spiritual writer and Doctor.  We still use his Way of the Cross in many parishes during Lent.  Yet he was rejected by the Order he founded and suffered from the alienation during the last few years of his life.  He obviously chose the cross and stuck to it.
May our prayer today give us such courage and may our reflection on the Gospels lead us to a true understanding of the radical, life-changing demands they make on us.
Bro. Rene