May the Lord bless you with peace and health in the Holy Spirit.
It is 19th September 2021. We celebrate the 25th Sunday of the Ordinary Time.
We reflect on Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; James 3:16 – 4:3 and the Gospel of Mark 9:30-37.
C.C. Colton remarked once: “People will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but live for it.” Living means living the values of the religion that promotes service and personal sacrifice for the welfare of the common good.
We are all in a mental and spiritual war that opposes the good and the righteous person. “The godless say to themselves, “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions.” (Wis. 2:12).
St. James points out that what makes to be fruitless in our spiritual life especially prayer life telling, “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? You want something and do not have it; You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:2,3)
“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mk.9:35).
Three parish priests were talking to each other after a weeklong renewal of prayer and penance. One parish priest said, after the Renewal, we got sixty more newcomers in the parish. Hearing this, the second parish priest boasted all the more telling us that the renewal worked out great for us. We got added 150 new members to the parish. The third parish sarcastically remarked saying that the renewal did much better than all of them and the renewal got rid of two hundred troublemakers of the parish.
Life is not about getting rid of people. It is the opportunity and privilege to getting ready people to face the odds in life.
The Gospel attempts to explore who is Jesus and who we need to be. It is the second time Jesus announces His imminent passion, death, and resurrection to the disciples. It is true most of the times that we do not understand the pain and agony of humanity and therefore we do not empathize at times.
Answering the question of who Jesus is, we all know and believe that Jesus is the Only Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Saviour, the Christ, the Anointed One and so on and so forth. Jesus says that if one wants to be first, he must come forward to be a volunteer for all.
What we need to be is to become like the child, who is the hope, joy, happiness, future, purity, peace, and goodness of humanity. The child evokes and sparks feelings that are divine, energizing and igniting positive vibes.
There are good people and bad people, God’s wisdom and worldly wisdom, the arrogant way and humble way, serving and looking for service, the wicked and the righteous.
What does mean to be a servant? A story will help you understand better. A boy from the village used to go near a beautiful tree and spend a lot of time playing and the tree was so happy to see the boy. He used to come regularly. Suddenly for a week, the little boy did not come to the tree! The tree became sad! Again, the little boy came with sadness on his face! He said he wanted to buy a toy. The tree gave its fruit. He sold them and bought the toy. A few years later he came near the tree completely disappointed! The tree gave him its branches. He built the house he wanted. Few years down the line, he approached with a broken heart that he wanted a boat, and the tree gave the entire trunk and life. Does it not resonate with a servant who had no other pleasure except giving? To be a servant means to be charitable to the core. True charity life involves giving everything we have for the welfare of the other.
We do charity these days to please God or to obtain favour from God. How many of us do serve and become charitable without expecting anything?
Jesus demonstrated a kind of servanthood no one ever dared before that to washing the feet of His disciples. He did not preach humility, but He practised it till the end.
In today’s family and community life, one wants to dominate the other. This is the cause of all the problems. Repression and having a control over a human being is not human, it is brutal. Christ teaches that one must stop biting and swallowing “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:15). It is by serving we resemble Christ in everything we say and do. (Matthew 20: 25-28).
In today’s second reading, St. James distinguishes between heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom (James 3: 13-18), earthly wisdom is demonic: it has the evil qualities of envy, bitterness, and partiality. But the wisdom that comes from God is divine. It has the virtues of peace, patience, and compliance. Those who are God-like will be in harmony with others.
Today’s first reading highlights that those who oppress others will embrace permanent failure even if they are temporarily successful, while those who are submissive will achieve permanent success even if they are temporarily defeated.
God-fearing people despise the patience and piety of the righteous, mocking that the righteous have no future. But God frees the righteous from all suffering.
We are all busy in our family, community, and workplace with so many things? When we are busy with ourselves, we become tired, stressed, and become miserable. But in serving, we savour the meaning of our life and existence. When we are so much concerned about ourselves, we wish to dominate, control, and suppress others. We all have a lot to work on when it comes to our selfish, obsessed, and narcissistic tendencies in making ourselves great. God values each one of us as the greatest miracle. Yes, we do not become great because of what we do or achieve but what we are in front of God and others. The one who serves is the greatest in front of Jesus. What about you and me? Are we a servant and spectator?
May the Lord bless you and have a week full of blessings of peace, joy, and happiness.