Tuesday, Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

There are times in all our lives when, looking back, we say to ourselves, ‘That wasn’t my best moment. My response to that situation or person left a lot to be desired’. Such a realization can easily leave us feeling very discouraged and downhearted. We can find it hard to lift ourselves up again. At such times, the final words of James in today’s first reading might speak to us, ‘Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up’. In times of personal failure and weakness, the Lord can lift us up if we turn to him. Whereas we can easily focus just on our failure, the Lord sees us with more generous eyes. Whereas we can engage in self-condemnation, the Lord invites us to learn from the experience and to move on, to grow in our relationship with him, through this painful experience of failure. When we look at Jesus’ first disciples in our gospel reading, I think we can say of them, ‘That wasn’t their best moment’. Jesus had just told them how he would be delivered into the hands of men who would put him to death; he would end up as one of the least. Immediately, the disciples begin to argue as to which of them is the greatest. Jesus did not rebuke his failing disciples, but patiently began to instruct them so that they could learn from this experience of failure. Jesus explained to them that becoming first or great in his community involves becoming the servant of others, and, especially, the servant of the most vulnerable, symbolized by the child. The disciples had much to learn. We all have much to learn when it comes to following the Lord, but, at least, we have a patient teacher who sees who we can become and works to bring us there.

Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland

Parish Website:  www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Join us via our webcam

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC

Facebook: @SJtBClontarf

Tumblr: St-John-the-Baptist-Clontarf-Rd