Cardinal Joseph Zen is the 91-year-old Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong. Over the last several decades now, he has been an outspoken critic of the Chinese government and its treatment of its citizens, specifically calling out issues regarding human rights, political freedom, and religious liberty. He has organized financial support for the underground Church in mainland China, called into question the recent agreement between the Vatican and the Chinese government over the selection and appointment of Bishops, and has supported and encouraged young people who have taken a stand against the political abuses of the communists in Hong Kong. As you might imagine, that has often gotten him in trouble with the government of China.

In May of last year, Cardinal Zen was arrested for his work with the Humanitarian Relief Fund which was responsible for covering the legal fees and bail of those arrested in Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests. While he was later released, he was found guilty in November for failing to register the organization and was fined.

Shortly after his arrest, Cardinal Zen celebrated a Mass where he continued his outspoken critique of the Church’s agreement with the government. During Mass, he also talked about how difficult following the Lord can often be. He reflected on how it is normal for Catholics to “bear some pain” in being disciples of Jesus and he prayed for those “brothers and sisters who cannot attend the mass in any form – for they have no freedom now.”

The story of Cardinal Zen and many others like him shows us just how great the cost of discipleship can be and how it continues to be a difficult task in our modern world to follow Jesus. It is not easy following Jesus, as our readings from last week and this week remind us. But relationship with the Lord, being His disciples is totally worth it. While we may endure hardship and suffering in that quest for following the Lord, in the end, the reward will be great. That’s what Jesus is speaking to us about today in our Gospel.

At first glance, it might appear that Jesus is trying to dissuade us from following Him, as if He’s trying to discourage us. Following Him is demanding. In fact, He tells us that every single disciple of His will have a specific cross to carry. There will be times when we have to endure a sort of crucifixion of our own; we will have to sacrifice self-gratifying desires, dying to ourselves in order to meet His demands. There will be occasions where we will have to undergo trial and suffering. That might sound harsh; it might sound painful; it might even sound a bit unreasonable. But there is a point to it all.

God knows what He is doing. He knows that this journey is difficult. But it’s in the journey that we realize how much greater the reward will be. If the Lord has called us to embrace faith in Him, if he has called us to be His disciples, if he has called us to this lifestyle, it’s only because He knows that this is the path that will lead us to true and lasting happiness. This is the path to enduring freedom. If we are truly living for God, if we are striving to give Him glory and to build up his Kingdom in everything that we do, then He will take care of us. The Father promises that if we embrace this mission and seek to complete it in the best way possible, that He will be faithful to us. He gives us the guarantee that we will see a great reward – that reward will be Heaven…it’ll be everlasting communion with Him.

This is something that St. Paul understood; it’s something that he reminds us of in our second reading today from his letter to the Church in Rome. He tells us that in order to share Christ’s life, in order to live the life of the redeemed soul, in order to embrace the new life of grace won for us by Christ’s passion and resurrection, we must also share Christ’s death. “We have to die to self, to put to death all [those] selfish and self-centered desires” that so often plague us as human beings. If we want “to rise with Christ, to live the life of the Spirit, the life that gives true meaning and satisfaction to our lives,” we have to put those desires aside and embrace the way of the Cross.

What are some of those desires for us? What are some of those areas of our lives that are impeding growth in our relationship with Jesus? What are some of those desires that are preventing us from being true disciples of the Lord?

In terms of material things: do I put more time and energy into amassing wealth and possessions than I do on my relationship with the Lord?

Are there any unhealthy relationships in my life that are leading me away from a life of virtue and holiness? Are there certain activities and hobbies that I have in my life that take me away from spending quality time with Jesus in prayer? Do I put those activities ahead of my relationship with Him? In what ways do I waste time, scrolling through Facebook or Instagram or TikTok…how many countless hours do I spend binging the latest show on Netflix…in what better way could that time be spent?

Y’all, the world so desperately needs us to be the disciples that Jesus has called us to be. It needs us to be those who go out and share the Good News, who tell others about Jesus, who share how He has changed our lives. But, as I said in one of my daily Mass homilies this week, we can’t do that unless Jesus has, in fact, changed our lives. We can’t tell others about Jesus if we don’t truly know Him. We can’t be witnesses to Truth, we can’t stand up for the injustices that we see, we can’t be voices that call others to something greater, if we aren’t rooted in Jesus. We can’t go out and be like Cardinal Zen, like those countless men and women, the giants of our faith, who have given their lives for the Gospel, if our lives are not built on the foundation of Jesus.

Discipleship is hard…and I’m sorry to break it to you, but it’s only going to get harder. It’s only going to get more challenging in the years ahead. But it’s worth it. The Lord needs us to be a new generation of saints…a generation that shows others that there is something greater than what this world offers. If we strive accomplish that, if we strive to live in that way, if we seek to be His disciples in all that we do, the Lord will lead us to that Heavenly reward. This week, let’s go out and make that happen. Let’s give our hearts more fully to the Lord; let’s take up the cross of discipleship and allow the Lord to make us into saints for the next generation.

Photo: Coram Deo by Hudson Hintze. Used under the Unsplash license.