Proper 23 B - Mark 8:35 - Eternal Possessions - Thomas A Kempis

Mark 8:35
"If you try to keep you rlife for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life."

" But woe to them who do not know the true state of their own souls, and more woe to them who prize this unhappy, flawed life as the highest good. Some people cling so tightly to life that, although they can scarcely get the bare necessitites by working or begging, they would still be willing to live here forever, caring nothing for the kingdom of God ... And, indeed, in the end these unfortunate people will know to their sorrow how cheap and worthless were those things that were so important to them. On the other hand, God's saints and all the devout friends of Christ took no account of material possessions nor of what marked success in this life, but their whole hope and intent focused on eternal possessions. All that they wished for was lifted up toward the permanent and invisible, lest love of visible things should drag them down to the lowest depths. "