Now that we are back at Seminary we decided to become more dedicated to keeping in touch with you all. Earlier in the week, Br. Michael asked if I could post an update. The thought struck me last night while reading a History text that I had not fulfilled the request. I was unsure what to write about, but figured I could write about the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Indeed, we have just experienced three feast days that are very much united with the Cross. The first and most prominent was on the 14th, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross by St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine. The second, was the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, and the third was the feast of the Impression of the Stigmata on our Holy Father St. Francis on the 17th.
With these three feast days in mind, I went into the chapel to pray for inspiration. I began to read the readings for today’s Holy Mass. As I was reading along, words from the second reading, from the letter of James, caught my attention. He wrote (from the Jerusalem Bible), “Why you don’t have what you want is because you don’t pray for it;” I thought to myself, “Wow, this is good” then I thought, “Oo oo, I wonder what is going to come next, Is he going to teach me how to pray properly to get what I want?” As you can see the idea of the Cross was slipping from my grasp.
I read on, “When you do pray and don’t get it, it is because you have not prayed properly, you have prayed for something to indulge your own desires.” Then I looked up at the tabernacle and was overwhelmed with the love of God. In the words of Deacon Bill Steltemeier, “Thank You Jesus!”
But wait, that isn’t the end of the story. Holy Mother Church in her infinite wisdom offers us the Gospel of Mark (9:30-37) to conclude the Liturgy of the Word. This particular passage is about the debate the disciples had about who was the greatest. It says, “So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’” I knew then that this is what Jesus was asking of me.
We all have interest and desires, things we pray for, things we hope to achieve, but if they are not in accord with God’s will, they will lead us down the wrong path. This is evident in today’s Gospel were we encounter the disciples of Jesus, his closest followers, his intimate companions, arguing about who was the greatest. Why would they do such a thing? Surely they had great love, for they had given up everything to follow Jesus. The point is, when we take our eyes off the Lord we begin lose focus on who is really important.
It is said that “Love begets Love,” so let’s see how Jesus, who is love, handled the situation. Jesus saw the disciples vie for prominence and used the situation, not as a time for a reprimand, but as a time to teach. The first thing that I noticed that Jesus did, which struck me as something neat, was that He first “sat down and then called the Twelve.” I don’t know why, but I think it might have lessened some of the tension the disciples may have had. He then went on to teach them where true greatness is found.
Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.”
