17-Sep-2006
Dear Friend,
No one likes to be last and no one wants to be seen as weak and helpless, and
rightly so. The ideal person held up as a model is one who can manage on
his/her own; one who is a self-made person. In the race to be number one we
sometimes forget that we are dependant on others and that we need others and
others need us. Most especially faith is not a do-it-yourself package. To
live fully we have to believe and depend on God. Have a child-like weekend
letting god be God in your life! Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: Twenty-fifth Sunday of the Year The last shall be first!
24-Sep-2006
Readings: Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; St. James 3:16-4:3;
Mark 9:30-37;
In todays first reading from the Book of Wisdom, written in Alexandria in
Egypt about a hundred years before Christ, the books wisely proclaims that
without a belief in God true goodness is not possible. Many try to be good out
of ideals that have no connection with God, but their principles end up in
violence and hate. We are reminded that the faith and life style of those
believing Jews who had to live among Greeks was in constant opposition to pagan
views and morals. The godless feel threatened by virtuous people and hence they
try to eliminate them. If we stand for God we are sure to be tested and we can
rely on nobody except God as our support. In the long run life can make no
sense without God.
Persecution of the just
Elie Wiesel (Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize Winner) tells a very
disturbing story in one of his books. Once after delivering a lecture in New
York he met a man who looked vaguely familiar. He began to wonder who he was
and where they had met before. Then he remembered. He had known him in
Auschwitz. Suddenly an incident involving this man came back to him. As soon as
children arrived by train at Auschwitz, together with the elderly and the sick,
they were immediately selected for the gas chamber. On one occasion a group of
children were left to wait by themselves for the next day. This man asked the
guards if he could stay with the children during their last night on earth.
Surprisingly his request was granted. How did they spend that last night? He
started off by telling the children stories in an effort to cheer them up.
However, instead of cheering them up, he succeeded only in making them cry. So
what did they do? They cried together until daybreak. Then he
accompanied the little ones to the gas chamber. Afterwards he returned to the
prison yard to report for work. Seeing him return the prison guards laughed at
him.
Flor McCarthy in Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies
In the second reading St. James makes the point about those who are
completely this worldly. When people think they are nobodies, they somehow feel
compelled to prove that they are somebodies. In addition to attention-getting
devices, they try to prove themselves by putting others down. A Christians
true worth comes from God.
The kind of person one is
When Nelson Mandela was a student lawyer in Johannesburg he had a friend
whose name was Paul Mahabane. Mahabane was a member of the African National
Congress (ANC), and had the reputation of being a radical. One day the two of
them were standing outside a post office when the local magistrate, a white man
in his sixties, approached Mahabane and asked him to go buy him some stamps. It
was quite common in those days for a white person to call on a black person to
perform a chore. Paul refused. The magistrate was offended. Do you know who I
am? he said, his face turning red with anger. It is not necessary to know who
you are, Mahabane replied. I know what you are. The magistrate boiled over
and exclaimed, Youll pay dearly for this, and then walked away. That white
man was convinced that he was superior to Mahabane simply, because he was a
magistrate. And it had become second nature to him to expect others, especially
if they were black, to serve him.
Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy day Liturgies
Todays gospel contrasts Jesus mission of service with his disciples desire
for self promotion. While Jesus was preparing himself for his forthcoming
suffering and death on the cross, his disciples were busy arguing who will be
number one in the kingdom of God. To confront their unacceptable thinking Jesus
asks: What were you arguing about on the road? Jesus knew their line of
thought and to confront them with his values and teaching he places a child in
front of them and challenges his disciples to accept the little one. When they
can welcome that little child, they can welcome the real Jesus. Only when they
have learnt the lesson of humility will they be able to accept the truth about
Jesus. Jesus compares himself to the little child, the one who cannot resort to
power tactics when threatened or maltreated. Jesus protection is with his
Father. Jesus does not rely on self help or his own resources, he refuses to
abandon his trust in the Father. That trust makes him
vulnerable, like a little child, but unless the disciples can come to welcome
that vulnerability they will never understand the way of Jesus. Jesus way of
life is in sharp contrast to worldly values of self-reliance and independence.
To be a person of faith is to rely on God. To be like Jesus we have to be on
the side of the weak. Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my
name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who
sent me.
What do we discuss on the road of our lives?
As for us, what do we discuss on the road of our lives? We too might be
rather embarrassed if Jesus asked us the question. When we speak of what is
close to our hearts, each of us reveals the depths of our being. Do we dream of
authority and power? You wish to be the first? says Jesus, Well then, make
yourselves the last! You wish to be great, then make yourselves little! You
wish to be masters? The make yourselves servants. Ask yourself in what way you
can best serve others, how you can best assist those who have need of help. So
it should be with all Christian men and women anxious to mould themselves into
the way of Jesus let them welcome, as messengers of Jesus, the weak and the
little. There is no better way of joining Jesus as, in secret, he makes his way
through Galilee with his disciples.
Glenstal Bible Missal
But what are children like?
There is no inkling in any gospel that Jesus was praising the immaturity,
the dependency, the lack of knowledge that children necessarily have. Christ
was not exhorting us to be as helpless as children are, as dependant as they
must be on their elders. Rather, Jesus is praising the straightforwardness of
little children, their lack of guile and deceit, the fact that they are
unspoilt and untainted by the kind of experience that makes many of us grownups
so manipulative, sarcastic, and pessimistic. Be like children, Jesus says,
full of enthusiasm and directness and optimism. Eugene Lauer The way of the
world is control and domination. The Christian delights in saying: I am here
to serve.
It takes so little from me to make others feel better
Ted Kennedy, Jr., first made national news when he lost his leg to cancer at
the age of 12. Periodically after that the press carried a photograph of him
skiing with one leg or playing football with an artificial limb. Now however
you read about him in another capacity. Young Kennedy has been crisscrossing
the country addressing handicapped people, especially the young. He attributes
his positive attitude towards his handicap to his family and friends. They
never made him feel different, he says. On top of that, he frankly admits
that he had the best doctors and treatment available. One of the reasons why
Im trying to help handicapped people, he says, is that Im trying to repay
some of the debt. It takes so little from me to make others feel better that it
would be unthinkable not to make the effort. Schweitzwer said: I dont know
what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who
will really be happy are those who sought and found how
to serve.
Mark Link in Sunday Homilies
May I be master of myself to be the servant of all!
Fr. Jude Botelho
www.netforlife.net
PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been
collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and
from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever
possible. These reflections are also available on my web site
www.netforlife.net Thank you.
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