19/09/2021
Sunday, 19 September, 2021
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Wisdom 2: 12, 17 - 20
Psalm 54: 3 - 6, 8
James 3: 16 - 4: 3
Mark 9: 30 - 37
The description in today’s first reading is fulfilled in the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
First, it points to Christ, the righteous one who was condemned and put to death by jealousy and wickedness.
Jesus condemned the ambitious Pharisees and Scribes of his time.
They took offense at Jesus, and so, persecuted and crucified him.
But the life of Jesus is not the end of the story of this reading, because the reality of this reading is also fulfilled in the life of all those who suffer persecutions today for being true or just in their dealings.
Like Jesus, sometimes we are persecuted by our enemies, and even by our friends for doing the right thing.
Yet, we must remain steadfast because, God will surely vindicate us as he vindicated Christ,
= because grace is perfected in weakness (2 Cor 12: 9).
We must depend on Christ, for we have no power of our own!!!
Our second reading reminds us of the importance of focusing on the things that unite us.
We all desire a harmonious life, yet some Christian communities and homes live in conflicts and disorder.
As much as conflicts are inevitable in life, we must not allow them to tear us apart.
Sadly, the root of most of such conflicts is SELFISH AMBITIONS. Taking the self as the measure of all things.
So, St. James admonishes us not to allow selfish ambitions to destroy our relationships, families and communities.
James asks us:
“Where do all these battles between you first start. Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; and so, you fight to get your way by force…”
Of course, families and marriages have been destroyed because of selfish ambitions or desires.
= A marriage of selfish individuals never stands or grows.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus foretells his imminent suffering, death and resurrection.
Unfortunately, instead of reflecting on what Christ was saying, his disciples were busy quarrelling secretly over who was the greatest.
Of course, their argument was aimed at the earthly government they imagined that Christ had come to establish. So, like the community that St. James wrote to, Jesus’ disciples were experiencing a conflict of interest.
= A community of selfish individuals never stands or grows.
This is what we often see in any society, church, family, and indeed anywhere that personal ambition is considered more important than anything else.
There, we see in-fighting, gossips, indifference, aggression, threats to lives and properties, hatred, and all sorts of vices.
All these come at the expense of the common good and of peaceful coexistence.
Wherever these exist, there can be no progress, prosperity and peace.
= Our nation is a typical example. Were we not much better as a nation forty years ago!
Therefore, by using a child as an example for us today, Jesus is simply teaching us that we have to become like children in order to be great.
= Not childish. But child-like. A child’s life is marked by dependency.
It means that we have to live a life that is dependent on God and godliness.
Our lives must be lived in humble service to God and to one another.
We must become men and women for others, as St. Ignatius of Loyola tells us.
This is the point that St. James makes in our Second Reading today:
When we surrender ourselves to God and to his will, we will learn how to ask for the right things of life.
And only when we ask for the right things of life will our prayers receive God’s green light.
My brothers and sisters, to be great is to be focused on something other than oneself.
for no one is ever great who is focused on the self or absorbed by the self.
To be great is the ability to accommodate and relate in harmony with others just as children always do.
To be great is the readiness to accept the truth, and to reflect positively on it.
To be great is to realize that you are a sacrament (visible sign of God’s grace) in the lives of others.
To be great is to cultivate a relationship that promotes the good and challenges the evils around you.
And the mark of that relationship is dependence on God!
I pray for greatness for each of you today:
+greatness in humility;
+greatness in righteousness;
+greatness in selflessness;
+greatness in generosity,
+greatness in service of God and humanity;
+greatness in the gifts of faith, hope and love.
And may the blessings of Almighty God, the Father, and the + Son, and the Holy Spirit come down on you and remain with you. Amen
Peace be with you.
Sam's Lib.