"Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Jesus reminds us today that there is nothing more precious in this world than our life. However, our life gains its value only when we are able to lose it for Jesus' sake. We lose our life for Jesus when we become His disciples. There are three requirements of being the disciple of Jesus.

The first of them is to deny ourselves. The way of self-denial is the way of conversion. We really deny ourselves when we purify ourselves from our sins and vices. To deny ourselves means most of all to act against our egotism and pride.

The second condition of being the disciple of Jesus is to take up our cross. Jesus accepted the will of His Father and took up the cross so that through His death and resurrection we may be saved. We take up our cross every time when we accept totally the will of God even if this means suffering, trial or misfortune.

The third requirements of becoming Jesus' disciple is to follow Him. We follow our Master when our heart is united with Him through prayer and the holy sacraments. It is this union with Jesus that makes us attentive and ready to follow Him wherever He goes.

"For the Son of Man will come with His angels in His Father's glory, and then He will repay everyone according to his conduct," (Mt. 16:27).