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9 DENVER CATHOLIC | FEBRUARY 2022 If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." MATTHEW 16:24 what he gets. It's about what he gives. For our sake, Jesus gives himself away completely in love, even unto death, death on a Cross. And this is the great mystery that the Cross reveals: We find our fulfillment in life only when we make ourselves a sincere gift to others. When we imitate Christ and give ourselves away completely in love to God and others, we don't lose anything. We actually gain so much more. For it is only by dying to ourselves — dying to our selfishness and pride, dying to our desire for praise, dying to our desire to control everything — that we discover the real love we are made for: the total, self-giving love Christ revealed on the Cross. T H E "H I D D E N W I S D O M" O F G O D This subversive message of the Cross remains just as counter- cultural today as it was when St. Paul preached it 2,000 years ago. Throughout the ages, the world, the flesh, and the devil have mocked the idea of total self-giving love. But St. Paul emphasized that the Cross is actually the "hidden wisdom" of God (see 1 Corinthians 2:7). It's hidden from the world, hidden today from much of Wall Street, Congress and whatever might be trending on social media, featured on Netflix or airing on ESPN. This beautiful wisdom of God is hidden deep within true followers of Jesus. From the outside, Christian disciples might appear to be living ordinary lives. But deep within, they are driven by the fire of divine love, an ardent desire to give themselves completely in love to their Beloved Jesus, holding nothing back. This is what following Jesus as a disciple is, ultimately, all about. By deepening our life of prayer, participating more in the sacraments, and cooperating more with God's graces, we allow that fire of Christ's love to transform our hearts. The more that happens, the more we find within us a love that is willing to suffer, make sacrifices, and deny itself for the sake of others, for the sake of love, for the sake of our Bridegroom, Jesus. This is the countercultural, self-giving love that Jesus modeled for us on Good Friday — a love that constantly prompts us, strengthens us, and pushes us to love as he did. This is vastly dif- ferent from the "what do I get out of it?" love of our modern age. ⊲ THE EXHORTATION TO THE APOSTLES, JAMES TISSOT, 1886-1894