CYCLE B 25TH ORDINARY (Ws. 2, 12. 17-20, James 3, 16-4,3 & Mk 9, 30-37)
1. The central message of Jesus’ preaching in the Gospels is the coming of the kingdom of heaven. With that announcement He shows US, those who are to receive this great gift of God, the need to repent of sin and go through a complete change of heart and conduct. In each of the Synoptic Gospels there is a theme used to help us PREPARE for the Kingdom.
2. The Gospel of Luke uses the theme of ‘EACH DAY’. ‘Each Day’ we are to come to KNOW Jesus. ‘Each Day’ we are to follow in His footsteps. Matthew uses the Theme of the Beatitudes: Blest are the poor in spirit, blest are they who mourn, happy are the meek, merciful, clean of heart etc. Each Gospel is filled with important ways we can make that theme come about in our lives. But it must be noted each is a call to turn from sin and change our conduct. To live the Self-sacrificing way Jesus Christ lived.
This year though, we are reading Marks Gospel. He uses the word DISCIPELSHIP to convey the same meaning of the other two Gospels. According to Mark, we develop as a Disciple as we come to know Jesus in two ways. First we do it with the MIND. As we heard Peter last week speak his mind when Jesus asked him, ‘And who do you say I am’, and Peter answered…’you are the Messiah’.
Then 2ndly, a disciple who knows Jesus must follow Him with their HEART. But you know what, that has always proven to be the tough part. For if we are disciples at HEART, we must implement Jesus’ command of Discipleship: “DENY yourself, TAKE UP your cross and FOLLOW ME.”
2. Peter last week and the other apostles today are the perfect examples of disciples STRUGGLING to be disciples. They were getting it ALL right with the HEAD, but ALL wrong with the HEART. Remember, Jesus even PRAISED Peter for his intellectual insight and later STERNLY REBUKED him for his wayward heart.
In today’s Gospel Jesus took the time to read their hearts again after He told them of how things would go down. The Christ must suffer and die. And they must follow in His footsteps. He could see they still were not getting the Serious message of DISCIPLESHIP. They were fretting over POSITION and POWER and showing ENVY of each other as they ignored Jesus message.
3. So He called them together in an attempt to make it clearer about what DISCIPLESHIP means. He places a child before the Apostles. Now understand… here He is not asking us to be a Child. There is a time to be Childlike for the kingdom, and then as a DISCIPLE, there is a time to accept the concept of what this Child demands.
That child was an example of ‘WHO’ a Disciple must be concerned for. In a Child there is innocence that must be protected. There is humility that means that they must not be manipulated or misguided. But this is also someone, who is without LEGAL STATUS, PHYSICAL STATURE, or the FINANCIAL ware with all and therefore is HELPLESS. So to receive a hild or person under these conditions means we Disciples must perform good acts for the INSIGNIFICANT people, with out hope of receiving a reward.
We must follow in Jesus’ footsteps. We too must DIE to ourselves, we too, must PICK UP the crosses. We too, must become SERVANTS.
5. Last week Father Merlin and Monsignor stood before us to BE the example of what it means to ‘welcome a child for Jesus sake’. Both re-consecrated themselves to the priesthood, to our diocese and our parish. Prayerfully saying, “…I resolve to unite myself more closely to you Lord Jesus, …joyfully sacrificing my own pleasure and ambition to bring your peace and love to my brothers and sisters.”
In their ‘HEADS’ long ago they knew Jesus was the Christ. But it’s only in their actions of 30+ years for Fr. Merlin and 50 years for Monsignor of steadfast work for the Kingdom, that we know those words prayed last Sunday and lived ‘EVERY DAY’ came from their ‘HEARTS’.
6. The message of the gospel the last two weeks is very serious and very hard to take and embrace. At first the apostles did not embrace it. We all may want to follow Jesus, but who wants to PICK UP A CROSS. Who wants to sacrifice PLEASURE and AMBITION. Only a Disciple. The fact that it’s hard emotionally, psychologically and maybe physically painful, tells us why people are not busting the doors down to be disciples, let alone priests. But Blessed Sacrament and the Catholic church as a whole have many people who do practice their faith DAILY at home or in the public square. They are HAPPY to be self-sacrificing DISCIPLES of Jesus.
7. In order to be effective Disciples of Christ, priests and laity must strive for spiritual perfection. They must strive for intimate union with Christ in a life of constant prayer and self-sacrifice. For no one can give what he does ot have. If the Disciple does not have Christ in his MIND and HEART, we cannot communicate Him to others. So therefore to bring each other to spiritual perfection, let us Encourage and Support each other EACH DAY. Encourage and Support each other to live the Beatitudes. Encourage and upport each other to be DISCIPLES OF JESUS. For the Kingdom of God is at hand.
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