Friday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time
Liturgical Colour: Green
First Reading
Nahum 2:1,3; 3:1–3,6–7
Israel restored; Nineveh ruined
See, over the mountains the messenger hurries!
‘Peace!’ he proclaims.
Judah, celebrate your feasts,
carry out your vows,
for Belial will never pass through you again;
he is utterly annihilated.
Yes, the Lord is restoring the vineyard of Jacob
and the vineyard of Israel.
For the plunderers had plundered them,
they had broken off their branches.
Woe to the city soaked in blood,
full of lies,
stuffed with booty,
whose plunderings know no end!
The crack of the whip!
The rumble of wheels!
Galloping horse,
jolting chariot,
charging cavalry,
flash of swords,
gleam of spears...
A mass of wounded,
hosts of dead,
countless corpses;
they stumble over the dead.
I am going to pelt you with filth,
shame you, make you a public show.
And all who look on you will turn their backs on you and say,
‘Nineveh is a ruin.’
Could anyone pity her?
Where can I find anyone to comfort her?
Responsorial Psalm
Deuteronomy 32:35–36,39,41
It is I who deal death and give life.
It is close, the day of their ruin;
their doom comes at speed.
For the Lord will see his people righted,
he will take pity on his servants.
It is I who deal death and give life.
See now that I, I am He,
and beside me there is no other god.
It is I who deal death and life;
when I have struck it is I who heal.
It is I who deal death and give life.
When I have whetted my flashing sword
I will take up the cause of Right,
I will give my foes as good again,
I will repay those who hate me.
It is I who deal death and give life.
Gospel Acclamation
Matthew 5:10
Alleluia, alleluia!
Happy are they who suffer persecution for justice’ sake:
the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Matthew 16:24–28
Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life?
‘For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour. I tell you solemnly, there are some of these standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.’
Reflection
Nahum presents a difficult picture: peace is proclaimed to Judah while Nineveh is reduced to ruins. The same passage contains restoration and judgement, hope and destruction. To understand it, we must remember what Nineveh represents. It is not merely a foreign city experiencing misfortune. It is the centre of an empire built through conquest, terror, deceit and the suffering of other peoples.
God had not forgotten those who had been plundered. Nahum announces that the violence of Nineveh will not continue for ever. Its apparent strength will collapse because power founded upon cruelty cannot last. The judgement described in such stark language reveals that evil has real consequences. God is patient and merciful, but he is not indifferent to injustice or to the suffering it causes.
The Catechism teaches that God is not the cause of moral evil. He permits human freedom, but in his providence he can bring good even from the consequences of wrongdoing. His purposes will finally prevail over every abuse of power and every act of injustice (CCC 311–314). This does not make suffering easy to understand, but it assures us that evil will never have the final word.
The responsorial psalm continues this theme through God’s declaration: “It is I who deal death and give life.” This is not a celebration of destruction. It is a confession that life, judgement and healing ultimately belong to God alone. Earthly rulers may behave as though they possess absolute authority, but their power is temporary. God alone sees the whole truth, judges with perfect justice and remains able to heal what human sin has wounded.
The Gospel then turns the question of judgement towards each of us. Jesus does not allow his disciples to stand at a distance and condemn Nineveh while ignoring their own attachments. He asks what we are pursuing and what it may be doing to our souls: “What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?”
The world encourages us to preserve ourselves at almost any cost. We are taught to protect our comfort, reputation, status and control. Jesus teaches something entirely different. The life we desperately try to secure for ourselves can become smaller and more fearful, while the life we place in his hands becomes free.
To renounce ourselves does not mean believing that we are worthless. Each person possesses an inviolable dignity because every human being is created in the image of God (CCC 1700). Self-denial means refusing to let our desires, fears and ambitions take the place that belongs to God. It means allowing Christ—not pride, anxiety or public approval—to determine the direction of our lives.
Taking up the cross does not mean seeking suffering or accepting mistreatment without resistance. The cross is the cost of faithful love. We carry it whenever following Christ requires sacrifice: when we forgive instead of taking revenge, tell the truth despite possible rejection, serve without recognition, resist an easy compromise or remain faithful when the way of Christ feels demanding.
Jesus does not ask this of us from a safe distance. He carries the cross first. He gives his own life freely and transforms an instrument of humiliation into the means of salvation. Christ’s sacrifice is unique and complete, yet he invites his disciples to unite their sacrifices with his (CCC 618). The Christian life therefore involves a daily journey through self-denial towards a deeper participation in Christ’s love.
The Catechism describes the way of perfection as passing by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without spiritual struggle and renunciation, but this path leads to the peace and joy of the Beatitudes (CCC 2015). The cross is not the end of the Christian story. Resurrection is.
Jesus also reminds us that our decisions have eternal meaning. The Son of Man will come in glory and “reward each one according to his behaviour.” Our actions do not earn God’s love, but they reveal whether we have accepted his grace and allowed it to shape our lives. At death, each person receives judgement in relation to Christ and the truth of his or her life (CCC 1021–1022).
Nahum shows the collapse of a city that tried to build itself through violence and exploitation. Jesus asks whether we might be building our own lives around things that cannot endure. Wealth, success and recognition are not automatically evil, but they become dangerous when possessing them requires us to neglect God, diminish another person or betray our conscience.
The essential question is not simply what we have gained, but what we are becoming. Are our choices making us more truthful, merciful and faithful? Are they drawing us closer to Christ and helping us love our neighbour? Or are we winning something visible while losing something within?
Jesus promises that the life surrendered to him is not destroyed. It is found. Whatever is given to Christ in faith—our work, sacrifice, suffering, service and love—becomes part of a life that death cannot take away.
One line to carry today:
I find my true life when I place it in the hands of Christ.
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