The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
James 4:1-10
Psalm 55:7-8,9-10a,10b-11a,23
Mark 9:30-37

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

The readings chosen for today are so human! It's good that Christ understood our human nature, but even He must have been frustrated at times. Christ is trying to teach the apostles and prepare them for what lies ahead. And how are they spending their time? By arguing about who was the greatest! Doesn't that sound familiar? In a way maybe for us it's good that they were so human, so that we would hear the lesson that Christ taught them, once He realized what was happening. He instructed them that whoever wants to be first, needs to be last of all and the servant of all. Ouch!!!! That's a significant responsibility for anyone to take on. It sounds so unlike the culture of today. That means, to follow Christ I'll be going against the common behaviors of today.

Am I up to it?

Christ understood that also, and thus we have in the first reading from James that we need to consciously submit ourselves to God and draw near to Him. That statement is so reassuring, as obviously we can't do this role alone. We perform our duties by the grace of God. Having done that how can we lose? We also have the added pleasure of knowing from the gospel that whoever receives a person in the name of Christ, receives the Father also.

The scriptures are so rich in instruction, the Word among us!

- Joan of Jesus, ocds
(jmurphy at utica dot edu)

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posted by joachim at 4:08 AM