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. --------------------------------- Find out what India is talking about on - Yahoo! Answers India Send FREE SMS to your friend's mobile from Yahoo! Messenger Version 8. Get it NOW -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/attachments/20060917/aced69a8/attachment.htm _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org