For What Am I Striving?

Today's first reading, Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20,  prophesies the death of Jesus. The author of Wisdom reveals the plot of the wicked to put Jesus to death:  "Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training.  Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.  With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test that we may have poof of his gentleness and try his patience.  Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him."

Note the statement "he sets himself against our doings", not against us!  It's our behaviors with which Jesus is upset.  We have violated the principles of our faith, our upbringing! That offends the Lord, our God, who has come to set us free! Knowing that he will be be  handed over to evil persons and be condemned to death, Jesus, in today's Gospel, Mark 9: 30-37, shares these facts with the apostles.  They do not get it and are too afraid to ask Jesus questions about the facts of His impending death. They resort to fighting among themselves about who is greatest in His Kingdom! How sad but how true it is that, frequently,  we don't understand Jesus' teaching that "if anyone who wishes to be first, he [she] shall be last of all and the servant of all."

What am I desiring? For what positions am I striving? Whom am I serving?

Childlikeness

The first reading of today’s liturgy, James 4: 1-10, begins with the question: “Beloved: Where do the wars and where to the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?” In the Gospel, Mark 9: 30-37, Jesus admonishes the twelve apostles for arguing among themselves about who is the greatest among them. They enter into this argument right after Jesus told them that He would be “handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” Totally ignoring Jesus, they fight about who is in first place in Jesus’ eyes. Jesus tells them that, in God’s Kingdom, those who are first are those who are “last of all and the servant of all”. He then brings a little child into their midst—children in those days were in last place and actually were not ever counted. As with women in that culture, it was as though they did not exist. Jesus puts His arms around this child and says: “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” Being a disciple of Jesus is about being like little children, who simply go about being little children, enjoying life, playing with each other, learning what is put before them to learn, assuming whatever role is given to them, exploring and being excitedly open to the wonders of the universe, of life itself, of who God is, who adults are, who they are as little children and what possibilities to live life fully are open to them. Children do not come into the world filled with jealousy of others, vying for first place, or arguing who is greatest among them. Those are learned behaviors passed onto them from adults in their lives. Receive a child as a child, in all its innocence, purity, openness, lack of prejudice, honesty (children say it as it is), awe, wonder. Teach that child about God, about love and gratitude, about forgiveness and service, about generosity and compassion. You will not only have received a child, you will have opened yourself to Jesus and to Jesus’ Father and your Father, God the Almighty. What more could we want from life, truly?

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday: “He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end,” we read in today’s Gospel, Jn 13: 1-15.  This is the day Jesus begins His bitter passion.  Before doing so, He models humility, servanthood, and incredible love for us, both in the washing of the apostles’ feet, including those of His betrayer, and by the giving us the Eucharist, whereby He is with us always sacramentally.  Following the Passover meal Jesus leaves for the Garden of Gethsemane. He says to His disciples: “My soul is sorrowful to the point of death.”  He asks them to stay awake and pray with Him. They fall asleep. Will I?

Jesus’ suffering is so severe emotionally and spiritually that his “sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood” (Lk 22:44).  He prays: “If you are willing [Father], take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine. Then an angel appeared to Him, coming from heaven, to give Him strength” (Lk 22: 42-43).  When I am in suffering severely, do I seek out others to pray for and with me? Do I realize that God suffers with me in those moments and, not only sends “angels” to give me strength but that He Himself comes also to be at my side to comfort me, strengthen m e, console me, and transform my way of handling the painful event so that I become a better person through it, that I move from “death” into new life?