Welcome to the latest edition of the weekly Say Yes to Holiness newsletter—designed to help inspire, encourage and accompany you on the path towards holiness.
Welcome to another week on our journey towards holiness!
Last week, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter gave the answer the Lord was looking for: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Now, this Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew 16:21-27 provides one of the most repeated phrases from Scripture that encapsulates the essence of what is necessary on the way of discipleship, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” And it is then that Peter discovers that knowing who Jesus is and understanding what it means to follow Him are two very different things.
Because Jesus begins explaining that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and then be raised on the third day, but Peter wants no part of it, so He pulls Jesus aside and rebukes Him.
Why? Perhaps because Peter had imagined that following the Messiah would lead to victory, success, honor and glory. Instead, Jesus speaks about suffering, sacrifice, self-denial, and the cross. But Peter doesn’t understand.
Truthfully, neither do we much of the time.
We do want to follow Jesus—but without inconvenience. We long holiness—but without sacrifice. We hope for resurrection—but without the cross. Yet Jesus can’t be clearer, can He?
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
This week, the Church also gives us two wonderful witnesses who show us what this kind of discipleship looks like when lived faithfully. First, on Thursday, we celebrate Saint Gregory the Great, a man who would have preferred the quiet contemplative life of a monk but accepted what what to be his cross in life—the tremendous responsibility of serving the Church as Pope.
Then on Saturday, we celebrate Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who heard Christ’s invitation to serve Him among the poorest of the poor in India and spent the remainder of her life answering that call—even while enduring profound interior darkness.
Both discovered what Peter had to learn: Following Jesus means surrendering our plans for His.
Therefore, this week’s Food for the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet will seek to inspire, encourage and accompany us in denying ourselves, embracing our crosses, surrendering our plans, and learning to faithfully follow Jesus wherever He leads on our journey towards holiness…
Food for the Head
"Many men keep the commandments in the way sick men take medicine: more from fear of dying in damnation than for joy of living according to our Savior's will.... On the contrary, a loving heart loves the commandments. The more difficult they are, the sweeter and more agreeable it finds them, since this more perfectly pleases the Beloved and gives Him greater honor." — Saint Francis de Sales
Peter did not like when Jesus suffering might be a part of God’s plan. Yet Jesus’ response to Peter questioning that reality is really startling: “Get behind me, Satan!” Why does Jesus use such strong words? Because Peter was not thinking “as God does, but as human beings do.”
But we often do the same, don’t we? We will evaluate God’s will according to whether it is comfortable, convenient, or fits within the plans we have created for ourselves.
But Saint Francis de Sales offers another way to consider. Instead of asking whether God’s will is easy, we should ask whether it pleases the One we love. And that changes everything, because self-denial no longer is simply about giving something up, rather, it becomes about choosing God over ourselves.
Because we should not choose Him because we have to, out of obedience or fear, but rather because we want to, out of a desire for what is sweetness and agreeable. So, examine your life and determine where you are not thinking as God does, and then surrender those to Him.
This week, resolve to identify one area where you have been resisting God's will and ask for the grace to lovingly say YES to Him instead.
Food for the Heart
"My Lord, I offer you myself in turn as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. You have died for me, and I in turn make myself over to you. I am not my own. You have bought me.... My wish is to be separated from everything of this world... for my praise and strength shall be in you. Enable me to carry out what I profess." — Saint John Henry Newman
“Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
These words of Jesus make little sense according to the wisdom of the world because the world gives us a bunch of messages. We need to protect ourselves. To promote ourselves. To fulfill ourselves. To put ourselves first.
But Jesus tells us to give ourselves away. And Saint John Henry Newman understood why—because Jesus gave Himself completely for us. Therefore, our response is to give ourselves completely to Him.
Now, this does not necessarily mean doing something dramatic.
It begins with something small. Like surrendering one of those selfish desires. Or sharing the credit with others on a project that you were responsible for. Or maybe giving to others what you might want for yourself.
Most often, this surrender begins within the heart. We surrender our desire for control. And our need for recognition. Or our expectations. Perhaps our preferences or our plans. And then slowly, our lives cease being about what we want and become about what God wants.
Only then do we discover the paradox Jesus reveal—that it is precisely by losing ourselves in Christ that we finally discover who we truly are.
This week, resolve to begin each morning by praying, "Jesus, I give myself to You. Help me desire Your will more than my own."
Food for the Hands
“Action relies upon contemplation for its fruitfulness; and contemplation, in its turn... pours out upon our active works some of its overflow.... And so, in the soul of a saint, action and contemplation merge together in perfect harmony to give perfect unity to his life." — Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard
On Thursday, we celebrate Saint Gregory the Great. Now, Gregory loved the contemplative life. Yet God called him from the quiet of the monastery into tremendous activity and responsibility as Pope. But Gregory did not abandon contemplation for action. Instead, his prayer sustained his service.
This is an important lesson for us. We need to remember that taking up our cross does not mean filling our schedules with more activity. Rather, our service must flow from our relationship with Christ. Otherwise, our service will become exhausting because we begin to rely upon ourselves instead of God.
We then tend to become frustrated when others fail to appreciate our efforts, and when this frustration increases, we eventually burn out. This is why Jesus regularly withdrew to pray precisely so that He could pour Himself out in love. And Saint Gregory did the same.
So must we.
This week, before beginning your work each day, resolve to spend a few minutes with Jesus and ask Him to make everything you do an overflow of your love for Him.
Food for the Feet
“The best way to show your gratitude to God and to people is to accept everything with joy." — St. Teresa of Calcutta
On Saturday, we celebrate Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She spent her life serving people most of the world preferred not to see. The dying, the abandoned, the sick, and the unwanted.
But perhaps even more remarkable is that she continued faithfully carrying out that work while experiencing years of profound spiritual darkness. Yet she kept walking and serving and loving.
Bottom line, she kept carrying her cross.
But she she did it with joy. Not because everything she experienced was pleasant, and not because suffering itself is good. Rather, her joy was rooted in knowing that she belonged to Jesus. And that is what taking up our cross should look like as well.
Carry the cross is not merely enduring difficult things. It is about carrying them with Christ, and for Christ—trusting that nothing offered to Him in love is ever wasted. And that we should do all of this with joy.
This week, resolve to accept one inconvenience, frustration, or unexpected difficulty without complaining and offer it joyfully to Jesus as an act of love.
One of my favorite ways to learn how to carry our crosses with Jesus is by praying the Rosary. Mary accompanied her Son all the way to Calvary and can teach us how to remain faithful when the road becomes difficult. Consider praying the Sorrowful Mysteries this week and asking for the grace to follow Jesus wherever He leads. A favorite rosary podcast of mine is the Daily Rosary podcast by the School of Faith.
Exhortation
"Do not let the past disturb you, just leave everything in the Sacred Heart and begin again with joy." — St. Teresa of Calcutta
In light of Mother Teresa’s memorial on Saturday, I thought using a second quote from her would not go amiss, especially her emphasis upon joy—even when we must deny ourselves and take up our crosses, and follow Him. Three commands that lead to one path.
Now, none of us will walk that path perfectly. Peter certainly didn’t. The very man whom Jesus called the Rock upon which He would build His Church was rebuked only moments later for thinking according to the ways of the world. And Peter would stumble again. And again. And again. Yet Peter kept following.
Saint Gregory the Great had to surrender the life he preferred in order to serve where God needed him. And Saint Teresa faithfully served Jesus despite years when she could barely perceive His presence as she endured spiritual desolation.
Each one of them reminds us that discipleship is not about carrying our crosses perfectly. Instead, it is about continuing to follow Christ.
So, when we resist God’s will…we choose to begin again. And when we become selfish… we choose to begin again. And when we complain about the Cross...we choose to begin again. Whenever we fall beneath its weight...we choose to begin again.
And each time these things happen, we leave everything in the Sacred Heart and begin again with joy—because the Cross is never the end of the story. Jesus tells His disciples that He will suffer and be killed, but He also tells them that He will be raised.
That is the ultimate hope—and it is our hope.
For every cross carried with Christ leads ultimately toward resurrection.
Therefore, may each of us do WHATEVER IT TAKES to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus wherever He leads, trusting that in losing our lives for His sake, we will truly find them, so that together we can tell the Master of Death, “NOT TODAY!”
All the best,
Christina
PS—If you haven’t already, go check out my new book, Solving the Parish Puzzle: One Person, One Disciple, One Leader at a Time is now available for purchase on Amazon.
Below are the Latest Happenings In the Say Yes to Holiness Community!
Both the Say Yes to Holiness and The Catholic Leadership Puzzle podcasts are now available on Fio!
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Latest Posts on the Women of the New Evangelization (WINE) blog:
Mercy, Peace and Exultation (April 12)
Harden Not Our Hearts (Mar 9)
Guest appearance on the Equipcast Podcast:
"When God Asks, How Do You Answer?: The Power of 'Yes' with Christina Semmens
Articles on the Catholic365.com Platform:
Recognizing the Path to Life
We Are All Eucharistic Missionaires!
Latest episode of the Say Yes to Holiness podcast...
Episode #265
“America’s Saint--Venerable Fulton Sheen”—1:1 Converation with Dr. Peter Howard, President of Fulton Sheen Institute
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Episode #265
“America’s Saint-Venerable Fulton Sheen”—1:1 Conversation with Dr. Peter Howard, President, Fulton Sheen Institute
In addition to podcasts, you can also find additional content like the Lenten Book Online Retreat—”Rooting Out Hidden Faults” by Father James McElhone on YouTube—Click here to be taken to the playlist
Update from The Catholic Leadership Puzzle
Now that Solving the Parish Puzzle: One Person, One Disciple, and One Leader at a Time has been released (and is available for purchase at Amazon), I have just started a NEW PODCAST SERIES that highlights different topics covered in the book by having conversations with a variety of guests.
The next in the series was just released, and the topic this time around was HOSPITALITY. My guest on the Catholic Leadership Podcast was Richard McCorry, Author of Company's Coming: A Spiritual Process for Creating More Welcoming Parishes.
The Power of Hospitality: Insights from Richard McCorry
If you have yet to pick up a copy of Solving the Parish Puzzle: One Person, One Disciple, One Leader at a Time, I encourage you to do so, especially in light of all the wonderful reviews it has received. And if you do already have a book, please consider posting a review on Amazon—every review matters!
And if you are looking for more SPP book resources and content, you can find it at The Catholic Leadership Puzzle Substack.