Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 53:10-11, Hebrews 4:14-16, Mark 10:35-45
From the Pastor’s Desk… To Serve & Give One’s Life
The longing to be powerful is as ancient as the world. We ourselves experience it every day in the most commonplace situations, as in wanting to occupy the best or first place, in choosing the best of partners, in climbing up the ladder to a higher position at work – till we go so far as to fight for political power without a conscience, even destroying the adversary. At the root of the problem, there is always the terrible duality: an instinct for dominance and one’s ridiculous vanity.
Our own self-centeredness can infiltrate to such a point that we think we are someone special, and that we are of even more worth if we dominate other people; and if only the other person could be more brotherly! Isn’t this the question that is planted in one’s mind? If the other person would really change into being my brother: then I could overwhelm him with my dominance, even against his own person or his own goods? Couldn’t I also then speak poorly about him behind his back? Would he allow me to destroy his privacy?
For Christ, on the other hand, one is greater when he/she resigns their will to dominate others and learns to serve with a fraternal love. There are so many people around us that attract us, due to their generosity and their noble lives! One’s moral authority is born from within a heart that is in solidarity, is generous, and serves. They radiate a special authority; they need neither to threaten, to bribe, nor to flatter. Perhaps this is the most important secret of life and yet the most ignored. We live life more intensely, only when we give it away. One can only live when that person helps others to live.
What is He asking of us? The service that Christ asks of us is demanding, however it is immensely fruitful. This service implies a struggle to the death against one’s egoism and it is an exercise in humility; this is the hard part. Yet, it is also a productive service because it is our source of salvation. It is very easy for one to give something; and this happens to us also when it does not cost us anything, especially when we have an abundance. But honestly: who dares to give everything, and then to give one’s all to the others, until it hurts?
The idea alone of serving others, may scare many away. For others, it may attract them only to place themselves at the center of attention. It is an obligation of one’s conscience to assume a commitment of service.
We have to give what is alive in us: our happiness, our faith, our tenderness, our confidence, and the hope that sustains us and animates us up from within. To give one’s life in this way – is always a gesture that enriches, that helps us to live, that gives life to others, that redeems souls, and that liberates and saves people.
Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12 ARMONY Have you ever known a moment when, just for a brief instant, you felt that all was right with the world? It is just such a moment, stretched into eternity, that the writer of Isaiah describes in today’s first reading: the…
Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalms 122: 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44 PEOPLE OF THE LIGHT We are called to reflect the light of God’s love through the ways in which we live our lives. Imagine the impact if each of us took this call to heart, every day, at home, work,…
Sunday’s Readings: 2 Sm 5:1-3; Ps 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5; Col 1:12-20; Lk 23:35-43 THE TRUE KINGSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST What kind of King is Jesus? How do you envision him? Remembering that they were promised a king from the line of David, the Israelites hoped for a Messiah who would set their political problems aright…
Sunday’s Readings: Malachi 3:19-20; Psalms 98:5-6, 7-8, 9; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19 THE END OF DAYS As we prepare for next Sunday’s feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we hear descriptions of dire and catastrophic events. Sometimes it seems as though we ourselves are living in the end times, when life…
Sunday’s Readings: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; Psalms 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Luke 20:27-38 ETERNAL LIFE What happens after we die? Most religions and philosophies provide some notion of this, but we are confounded by the mystery of it all. Today’s readings give us a glimpse through the faith of martyrs and in…
Sunday’s Readings: Wisdom 11:22-12:2; Psalms 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13, 14; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10 A COMPASSIONATE GOD Today’s reading from the book of Wisdom presents an image of a patient God who “rebuke[s] offenders little by little” (Wisdom 12:2), an image endorsed by the psalmist, singing of how the LORD is “slow to anger…
Sunday’s Readings: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; Psalms 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14 MADE RIGHT BEFORE GOD Although the opening lines of today’s first reading claim that the Lord “knows no favorites” (Sirach 35:15) and is “not unduly partial toward the weak” (35:16), the remainder of the passage makes it clear that the…
Sunday’s Readings: Exodus 17:8-13; Psalms 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8 PERSISTENCE Exodus recounts the journey of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to the land promised to their ancestors. It was not an easy journey. In today’s reading, they are attacked by Amalek and his soldiers, members of one of the…