WHITE HOUSE JESUIT RETREAT

St. Louis, MO 63129

1-800-643-1003

Jesuit retreat center high on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, MO.  Since 1922, thousands of people from around the world make annual three-day silent, guided retreats here to relax, reconnect with God and strengthen their spirituality.  A true gem in the Midwest!  Call 314-416-6400 or 1-800-643-1003.  Email reservations@whretreat.org  7400 Christopher Rd.  St. Louis, MO 63129

Both men's and women's retreats are offered as well as recovery retreats.

Take Spirituality to the Next Level!

Weekend Reflections for 8/28/20

August 26, 2020  /  Joe Parisi

The Costly Grace of Discipleship

 

The Cost of Discipleship is a Christian classic by the German “martyr” to the sin of racism, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The book centers around an exposition of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in which Bonhoeffer spells out what he believes it means to follow Christ. It was first published in 1937, when the rise of the Nazi regime was underway in Germany. Against this background Bonhoeffer developed a spirituality of costly discipleship, which ultimately led to his execution in a concentration camp because he opposed the racist Nazi regime. As he went to his death in 1945 Bonhoeffer wrote: "This is the end—for me the beginning of life."

A central element of this book is the contrast Bonhoeffer makes between "cheap" grace and "costly" grace. In his words: "cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ."

Costly grace contrasts with cheap grace confronting us as “a gracious call to follow Jesus, coming as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels one to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

In Sunday’s gospel (Mt 16:21-27) Jesus invites us to grow in costly discipleship with these words: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny self, take up one’s cross and follow me.” The grace-filled school of prayer and discernment we offer freely in the Spiritual Exercises at White House invite us to grow in the fulfillment of Jesus’s promise: “if you lose your life for my sake, and for the gospel, you’ll find it,” and that means abundant riches flourishing out of costly discipleship. For all of us, isn’t this the end—the beginning of life?

-Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ