In today’s Gospel, there is a formula for discipleship. The Gospel of Mark 8:34-9:1 reads:
“And calling the multitude together with his disciples, (Jesus) said to them: If any man will follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And after six days, Jesus taketh with him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves, and was transfigured before them.”
In these short verses, the formula for discipleship looks to be the following:
Picking up our crosses and denying ourselves
PLUS
Following Jesus up the mountain
EQUALS
True discipleship
Perhaps this seems too simple. Yet, this formula worked for today’s Saint, Saint Peter Damian. Throughout his life, he carried many crosses, worked to deny himself, and pursued Jesus first and foremost. In his own time, he would be recognized for his life of holiness and called upon by the Pope to help reform the Church. With this framework in mind, let’s look more closely at St. Peter Damian’s life.
Sadly, St. Peter Damian had many opportunities to pick up his crosses from the start of his life. Born in Ravenna, Italy in the year 1007, Peter endured neglect and ill treatment by his family, including his own mother. He would later write, “The best penance is to have patience with the sorrows God permits. A very good penance is to dedicate oneself to fulfill the duties of everyday with exactitude and to study and work with all our strength.” Eventually, his older brother, Fr. Damian, noticed his maltreatment, took him in, and began to give him an excellent education (in gratitude for his priest brother, St. Peter would add his brother’s name to his own, making him Peter Damian).
From this point on, St. Peter Damian began to flourish. He proved to be a brilliant pupil and in time a master and professor of great talent. As hard as he studied, however, he also was equally rigorous in denying himself in order to grow spiritually. From early on he fasted, prayed, gave alms to the poor, and wore a hairshirt under his clothes to arm himself against the allurements of pleasure and the wiles of the devil.
Despite his success, Damian’s dissatisfaction with the scandals within academia prompted his withdrawal from the world. Unsure of which direction to take, Damian first withdrew to a monastery for a forty-day retreat. Here, alone with Jesus, Damian discerned a call to monastic life and received the habit. As a monk, Peter Damian walked up the mountain with Jesus by living a secluded life of prayer, extreme penance, and virtue.
As he continued to follow the formula given in today’s Gospel, others began to take notice. In addition to being named Prior of his monastery, he also began teaching his fellow monks and writing about the importance of monastic discipline and clerical reform. In 1057, he was appointed as the Cardinal Bishop of Ostia by Pope Stephen IX. Despite his initial reluctance, he accepted the position to assist with the Church’s reform efforts, particularly addressing issues like simony and clerical celibacy with zeal. He also served as a papal legate on numerous occasions, mediating disputes and enforcing reform measures. The work that he did and the writings he left behind are so clearly Catholic that he was named a Doctor of the Church in 1828.
St. Peter Damian lived as a true disciple of Christ. First, he tended his own soul by taking up his crosses, denying himself with penance, and seeking to be alone with God through prayer and a life of virtue. Then, from his hidden life as a monk, God sent him forth to boldly reform His broken Church with fervent charity.
Each of us is called to be a disciple of our Lord. What better way have we than to also follow the “formula”? Like St. Peter Damian, we too must seek to first reform our own souls. Lent is fast approaching; this can be a good time to begin praying for clarity on how God wants each of us to come closer to Him. Bearing our crosses well, denying ourselves, and spending more time alone with Jesus are ideas to bring to Him in prayer. With God’s grace and St. Peter Damian’s prayers, may this upcoming season of penance be fruitful and allow us be truer and more courageous disciples of Christ.
“Nobody can fight properly and boldly for the faith if he clings to a fear of being stripped of earthly possessions.”
-St. Peter Damian
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