St. Francis Xavier Petoskey

6 days ago

What Are You Gaining—and What Are You Losing?

“What are you gaining—and what are you losing?”

We live in a world that constantly tells us to gain more: more money, more success, more recognition, more comfort, more possessions, more followers. None of these things is necessarily bad. The danger comes when they become the measure of our lives.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks a powerful question:

“What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”
Jesus is asking us to look beyond worldly success and ask a deeper question: What is happening to my soul? Am I becoming closer to God, or am I slowly moving away from him?
Think about Saint Francis Xavier. He was intelligent, talented, and ambitious. He had the possibility of achieving great success and recognition. But his friend, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, repeatedly challenged him with the words of Jesus: “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”

Those words gradually changed Francis. He realized that worldly success could never satisfy the deepest hunger of his heart. He chose Christ over prestige and comfort and eventually gave his life to missionary service.

Francis discovered that the greatest gain in life is not gaining the world; it is gaining Christ.

Jesus tells us, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

Each of us has a cross. It may be a difficult relationship, illness, loneliness, financial hardship, family responsibilities, disappointment, or the loss of someone we love. Sometimes the cross is simply forgiving someone, caring for another person, or remaining faithful when life becomes difficult.

Our crosses are different, but Jesus gives us the same invitation: “Follow me.”

We can also think of people like Saint Monica, who carried the cross of persistent prayer; Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who carried the cross of loving service to the poorest; Blessed Óscar Romero, who courageously stood with the poor and spoke the truth; and Martin Luther King Jr., who faced hatred, threats, imprisonment, and ultimately gave his life while working for justice and human dignity.

Their lives remind us that following what is right often requires sacrifice.

So we need to ask ourselves: What are we gaining—and what are we losing?

We can gain success and lose our peace.

We can gain possessions and lose our generosity.

We can gain recognition and lose our humility.

We can gain comfort and lose our willingness to sacrifice.

And we can gain the whole world and lose our soul.

At the end of our lives, what will matter most will not be how much we owned, how successful we were, or how many people knew our name. What will matter is whether we loved, whether we forgave, whether we served, and whether we remained faithful to Christ.

Jesus does not promise us a life without crosses. But he promises that when we carry our crosses with him, they can become a path to deeper love and new life.

So today, let us take seriously the question Jesus places before us:

What am I gaining—and what am I losing?

May we have the courage to let go of whatever takes us away from God, to carry our crosses with faith, and to choose Christ above everything else.

Because in the end, the greatest thing we can gain is Christ—and in him, we gain true life.

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