Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”    

The group Bon Jovi sings: “It’s my life. It’s now or never. I ain’t gonna live forever; I just want to live while I’m alive. My heart is like an open highway. Like Frankie said, I did it my way. It’s my life.” Referring to Frank Sinatra’s famous song that probably described Sinatra’s life quite well, “I Did It My Way,” the person in the song feels that since it is his life, he is most responsible for it.  

Jesus Christ was a person who wanted real dedication. If people were going to accept him, there could be nothing that would stand in the way, even love of family. His thought was: if one was going to recognize him as a guide for a person’s life, such a one had to do it completely or not at all. In that context, he tells his followers that they have to lose their lives for his sake, and when they do, they will actually find them.

In Bon Jovi’s song “It’s My Life,” the person does not have to depend on somebody else to tell him what to do. Once he recognized that he was in charge of his own life, as everyone of us should, he could begin to save himself and others from any misery that might overcome him in life. In terms of what Jesus said, since he was in charge of his own life, he was looking to “find his life” as best he could.

“Finding our lives” might be defined by society as “having it all together, being on top of everything, and being people who know what we want and why we want it.” The Christian, the follower of Jesus would not define it that way. For a Christian, “finding our lives” is intimately connected with “losing selfish lives” and following Jesus, even if it means a little suffering. Of course, the problem with such a position is that we don’t want the difficult steps that Jesus proposes. We don’t want to work at the peace, the harmony, the forgiveness, getting rid of revenge, and in general, doing what he asks.
 
Jesus statement about losing our lives but finding them by wanting truly Christian virtues is a most important one as we look at the psychology of human living. If we want answers about how to live a happy fulfilled life, to get it all together, to know who we are, to be on top, to feel good about ourselves, we have to first of all “lose our lives”—empty ourselves—and then fill up that emptiness with the principles of Jesus Christ. With Bon Jovi, we proclaim that it is our life; with Jesus Christ, we say the same, and we want to live it in a Christian way.                       

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we all desire to “find ourselves,” that is, to have happy, fulfilled lives. Help us understand that we can have happy lives only if we truly accept Jesus and his principles into our living. Be with us, we pray.

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America