Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mt 20:27-28)
Today is the feast of St. James. In today’s Gospel, we are presented with the moment that the mother of James and John came to Jesus seeking to position her sons in power when Jesus came into His kingdom.
We read that the other apostles became indignant, probably because that was their wish as well.
Jesus reminded them — and reminds us — that a truly great person is going to be a person who serves the needs of others rather than looks to have his or her own needs fulfilled.
That is so hard.
We are, after all, human. Being human, we want to be taken care of. We want to have our needs met. We want to be more important than others.
We can have that, if we want. The world promises all of that, and more, if we give ourselves over to the world.
What the world cannot provide, however? Eternal life with God. If we want to live with the Lord forever, we have to begin it right here, right now. We have to live as people of God not as people of the world.
We have our marching orders. Let’s make sure that we follow them today.
FAITH ACTION: There are many people out there who need our help. Come to someone’s aid today. If you cannot help directly, pray for those in need. Make sure that your thoughts and your actions are directed outward today.