I was watching a highlight video from last year’s Summer Olympics. One image catching my attention was when Keely Hodgkinson from England was being awarded the gold medal in the women’s 800 meter dash.
She got on the podium. The medal was placed around her neck, and the anthem played. She began to cry.
As she wiped away her tears, I saw the joy and emotion of winning.
But there was something missing, something I didn’t see.
What I didn’t see were the years of training behind it: the early mornings, the aching muscles, the countless sacrifices of time, food, friendships, even family life.
Athletes like Keely make those sacrifices because they know the goal — and they believe it’s worth the price.
Jesus, in today’s Gospel, is asking us questions: Do you know the real goal of following Him? Are you willing to pay the price? Are you on the right track?
Are you stumbling through life running the 100 meter dash when you should be running a marathon? Or worse yet, are you running a marathon when you should be running a 100 meter dash?
Life is short. We don’t have forever to figure out what truly matters. As the Responsorial Psalm stated like is like grass that springs up in the morning and then withers and fades at the end of the day.
Just as athletes have a short time to compete, the shortness of our lives demand purpose and clarity.
Every day matters. Every choice counts.
So, we are faced with a hard reality.
The question is not whether being a disciple of Jesus will demand sacrifice — we know it will. The question is: Will our actions be aimed at the right goal?
In the Gospel, Jesus does not sugarcoat it: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
And he says “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he can’t be my disciple.” Of course, he’s using hyperbole or exaggeration because, you know, we’re not to hate them or ourselves.
But what he is saying is following Him is costly—it may demand more than we think.
And so, Jesus warns us to “calculate the cost.”
That’s not supposed to make us feel good. It’s a reality check.
Being Jesus’ follower isn’t easy. It demands something from us — sometimes it may seem like everything.
What Jesus is saying is if the goal we are training is eternal life with him in heaven, then we have to look at our lives and discern and eliminate those things that are keeping us from the goal.
And that may mean giving up our possessions, our habits, the things we love to do, our hobbies, our jobs, our father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even our own lives.
Not because God wants us to despise those things, but because nothing can come before Him.
If you were training for the Olympics, you wouldn’t say, “Well, I’ll give about 10% effort, and maybe I’ll show up for practice if I feel like it.”
No — you know lukewarm discipleship or half-way trying doesn't win the race or reach the goal.
So Jesus asks: What’s holding you back?
Paul, in the Second Reading, gives us a concrete example. He’s sending Onesimus, a runaway slave, back to his master Philemon. But Paul says: “Receive him no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother in the Lord.”
Our Second Reading points out following Jesus doesn’t just change what we believe — it changes how we live, how we treat others, how we see people and even the world in which we live.
It changed Paul.
Where at one time he and his former world may have seen “slave” and “master,” now Paul sees in Onesimus “a brother in Christ,” someone with dignity.”
This kind of thinking and way of life is costly. Because if we take following Jesus seriously, it means we don’t get to hold onto grudges. We don’t get to cling to prejudices. We don’t get to treat people as problems.
We see them with the dignity God gives. And that’s often a heavy cross.
Paul understood that. He gave up comfort, reputation, even freedom — all because he believed the goal was worth the price.
So we have to have it clear in our minds and in our hearts: what’s the goal?
Why pay the price of following Jesus?
It’s not medals or trophies. It’s not worldly success.
The goal is eternal life.
The joy of heaven.
Seeing God face-to-face.
St. Paul says elsewhere, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
That’s the goal.
And compared to that, every sacrifice, every cross, every cost — is worth it.
But we can’t do it on our own. An Olympic athlete has coaches, teammates, trainers. We have something better: God’s grace.
Only with God’s grace can we be who God calls us to be.
Only with God’s grace can we carry our cross and not collapse.
Only with God’s grace can we pay the price of discipleship — and not give up.
That's why we need the Church. We need the mercy of Reconciliation.
We need the nourishment for our souls provided in the Eucharist.
We need the prayers, fellowship, compassion, and solidarity of our brothers and sisters in these pews.
We need each other, but most importantly, we need Jesus.
So: What are you willing to do?
Are you willing to let go of possessions if they get in the way of faith?
Are you willing to risk awkwardness, maybe even rejection, for standing up as a Catholic in the world?
Are you willing to forgive someone who’s hurt you, because Christ has forgiven you?
Are you willing to carry the cross of suffering with trust, instead of bitterness?
That’s the price. And Jesus says clearly: Whoever does not carry his cross cannot be my disciple.
But here’s the promise: if you pay the price, the reward is beyond imagining.
When Olympic athletes like Keely Hodgkinson finally stand on the podium, the medals around their necks, the anthem playing — they don’t think of the early mornings, the sore muscles, the sacrifices.
In that moment, the goal makes it worth it.
In the same way, when we stand before Christ at the end of our lives, we won’t regret the sacrifices, the crosses, or the price of following Our Lord.
We’ll see the goal — eternal life with God — and we’ll say:
It was worth it.
So, take Jesus’ words seriously. Calculate the cost. Be honest about what holds you back. Then, with His grace, take up your cross and let go of what's holding you back.
Because the goal — being a saint — is worth the price.