TO DRINK FROM THE CUP OF SUFFERING IS TO DIE TO SIN In today’s Gospel (Mk 10:35-45), the baptism Jesus refers to that He must enter is His suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection (Mk 10:35-45). Like a baptism, He will be immersed down into death and then emerge out of death, into a new life for the world to begin living in now, and then beyond the grave. We are asked to live our suffering lives as an atonement (to make amends) for our sins and the sins of the whole world. In every Mass, Jesus invites us at the consecration when He says: “Take this all of you and drink from it”. He is inviting you and me, not someone else. We must willingly drink the chalice of suffering on earth now, if we intend to rise up to a new spiritual life and drink the chalice of peace in heaven someday. This is to follow Christ because suffering has become a divine currency that can purchase souls for heaven. We must pray and live for each other’s salvation as directed by Jesus. The whole purpose of baptism is to be immersed into the blessed waters, allowing the Holy Spirit to wash away the mark of original sin, called death that we inherited from Adam and Eve, and have it replaced with the mark of eternal life. None of us can avoid Calvary on earth. Like Jesus, we must not complain but offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to the Father for the salvation of the world. This is our mission. To share in His glory, we must be willing to drink from His cup. Jesus came to drink this chalice of the new covenant on behalf of all mankind. He came to be baptised or immersed into the sufferings that you and I all deserve for our sins (Luke 12:50). It is now our turn to do it by shedding our lives for Him and each other. MASS IS GIVING OF OURSELVES TO THE LORD In all our trials and tribulations, we need to hold fast to our confession of faith (Heb 4:14-16). Suffering is our portion of the Cup that Jesus promised to those who believe in Him (Col 1:24). We have been baptised into His passion and death (Rom 6:3). The reason we gather around the Altar of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is to give thanksgiving to Christ and to say, ‘yes,’ I will drink from the sacred cup of salvation that gives us victory over death. We must not be observers at Mass but be participators in lifting up our hearts and lives to the Lord. This is ‘right and just.’ This is what the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is about. We are uniting our sacrificial lives with that of Christ’s Sacrifice and are willing to enter into our own earthly passion that God sends us, in order to play our part in the salvation of the world. God bless, Fr. Brendan.