When the Word of God burns within us, it can be sweet, but sometimes it can be very difficult. If we are to faithfully pronounce that Word, we must be totally in love with the Lord, for it is only when we are enamored with God that we can do what St. Paul says: offer our entire lives as a sacrifice to God to be consumed.

Discipleship comes with a price tag: the cross. Jesus’ cross is a crucial element of “dying, losing one’s life, and following the master.” Jesus’ cross is an image of trust, not of betrayal; a symbol of commitment not of apathy; a sign of hope and not of despair and an icon of life not death.