READ MT 16:21-27 Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE GOSPEL.
UNDERSTAND by Father Greg Friedman, OFM A Franciscan story tells how St. Francis was about to send some of his brothers to preach in a hostile, pagan land. Everyone expected them to suffer martyrdom, and so those who weren’t going crowded around the missionaries, secretly hoping to boast later how they had met such saintly martyrs. One timid friar in line was horrified when one of the missionaries told him, “So Brother Jordan, you, too, will come with us?” The young friar recoiled in shock, but then thought, “What if it’s the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that I go?” He took his dilemma to Francis himself, who advised him to follow his heart. Brother Jordan did accompany the missionaries, and survived to chronicle their exploits.