Fr Beni's Reflection (30 August 2026)

“Take up your cross and follow me.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our readings today focus on the cost and meaning of Christian
discipleship, drawing directly on the Gospel themes of self-denial and commitment. Take up your cross
and follow me.
True discipleship requires accepting personal sacrifice and hardship rather than seeking comfort or ease.
This continues from the question of Jesus last Sunday: Who do you say I am? Moving from recognizing who
Jesus is to actively living out that faith through action and endurance. This is what God wants us to be.
To follow Him in the footsteps of a disciple. This will enable us to take up our cross and follow Him. We see
this life in the life of the Prophet Jeremiah; he really faced a hard time, but he had committed himself to
the service of God. He had the courage to take up his cross and follow God’s command.
Being a disciple, a person is open to learning, strives for success, and ready to transform, which means
a total commitment. Take up your cross and follow me.
Being a follower demands a lot, while being a disciple demands self-sacrifice and commitment. Today’s
liturgy is inviting us to be disciples rather than followers. A simple word for a follower is an observer, easily
losing focus, but the danger for a follower is to seek comfort and ease rather than facing the situation and
learning from it. This image will never succeed: to take up the cross and follow the master (Jesus). We are
called to be disciples, not followers.
Jesus reminds Peter to know his place, to be a disciple instead of a follower. At times we fall into this attitude
also. Jesus reminds us that to be true to his followers, we are to be disciples, so that we can continue to
witness the Gospel and to bring God to people’s lives, especially those who are in need of God.
To conclude, let us strive to be true disciples of Jesus; despite the challenges we encounter in life,
we are reminded this Sunday to take up our Cross. To deny ourselves, we are called to be more vigilant
in witnessing God’s words in our lives. It is not about our work, but it is for the glory of God. Let us open
ourselves to God’s grace, so that we are empowered to take up our cross, to bear witness of our God to all.