Beloved Parishioners,

Today my reflection is centered on the cost of discipleship. Discipleships have never been cheap as you see even from last Sunday’s reading. It has never been a walk in the park. Jesus Himself declared: “If anyone wants to be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Elsewhere He adds: “Anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).

These words have echoed across the centuries, and now, in 2025, they still strike us with both their challenge and their beauty. Today, the “cross” disciples must carry may not always look like first-century persecution, yet it remains real—often subtle, always demanding.

The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). This verse points us to Christ’s unchanging presence. In a world that reinvents itself every few years—with new technologies, new ideologies, and new crises—it is easy to feel unmoored. Yet the writer to the Hebrews assures us: Jesus is not shifting sand; He is solid rock. The same Lord who healed the blind, touched lepers, forgave Peter, and welcomed Mary Magdalene is the same Christ who listens to our prayers today. In a year when the news cycle spins faster than ever, when AI reshapes our routines, and when social media insists that truth is relative, the constancy of Christ is our anchor. Discipleship, costly as it may be, begins with trusting that He does not change even when everything else does.

Think about it. In 2025, discipleship costs us when we refuse to cut corners in business while everyone else is doing it. It costs us when we choose honesty online, even though fake news spreads faster than truth. It costs us when we share bread with the hungry while inflation tempts us to hoard. It costs us when we log off social media to pray, while the world keeps scrolling. Following Christ today often means swimming against the currents of consumerism, relativism, and secularism. Being faithful requires standing firm on values that society sidelines. With the rise of AI, social media, and digital overload that can dilute spiritual depth, discipleship may involve reclaiming silence, authenticity, and truth in a noisy world. In societies struggling with inflation, inequality, and job insecurity, it still asks for generosity, trust in God’s providence, and the refusal to compromise integrity for quick gain. And in the face of wars, climate crises, and migration challenges, discipleship calls Christians to costly solidarity with the poor, the displaced, and the marginalized. Beyond these external challenges, it also demands inner transformation—prayer, fasting, forgiveness, and humility.

The Church has consistently taught this truth. Vatican II in Lumen Gentium reminds us that the disciple is called not only to keep the commandments but to embrace the radical love of the Gospel (§42). Pope Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi observed that people listen more to witnesses than to teachers (§41), and witness always costs something. Pope Francis often warns against the temptation of a “comfortable, safe faith” that avoids the risks of mission (Evangelii Gaudium, §88).

The cost of discipleship, then, is not a tax we pay; it is the very sign that we are walking in the footsteps of Christ. And yet, the paradox of the Gospel remains: whatever we give up, we receive back in abundance. Jesus promised that those who lose their life for His sake will find it (Matthew 16:25). And when we trust that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, we find the courage to endure whatever 2025 may bring.

So yes, discipleship today costs us—our pride, our ego, our greed, sometimes even our popularity. But what it gives us is infinitely greater: Christ Himself. And in the end, isn’t He the only treasure worth everything?

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