The Catholic Calendar for Monday, July 25, 2005
Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. James, apostle

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
2 Corinthians 4:7-15
Psalm 126:1-6
Matthew 20:20-28

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

On this Feast of the apostle St. James, we hear in the Gospel the bold request by his mother. Some might think it is also rude and outlandishly presumptuous. It does however demonstrate the tendencies of human nature and provides the opportunity for Jesus to give us some valuable and absolutely necessary advice about discipleship.

Regardless of the tendency of human nature to be self-serving, we must instead put the concerns of others first. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to be selfless, but that it’s imperative that we try.

Saying that we “try”, implies that surely at times we’ll fall short; but like every worthwhile goal, we must pick ourselves up and get back on the road with even greater determination.

Determination and success in spiritual growth aren’t just a matter of what “we” do, but also what we allow God to do. Failure to cooperate with God's grace is like having a heat lamp, but never plugging it in: we remain cold and in darkness.

Let us then, with God's help, recognize not only our propensity for wrong doing, but our opportunities for doing what is helpful to others and pleasing to Him .

- Donna Raye Nelson, OCDS
(drn3rd at hotmail dot com)

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