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Gospel Reading for October 20, 2024 – Mark 10: 35-45
PARADIGM SHIFT
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?” They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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Being baptized as Christians, we share the name of Christ and we automatically become his followers. This should be very clear to all of us Christians. WE ARE HIS FOLLOWERS and all of us have the mission to serve others as prophets (a life of being his witnesses ), kings (A life of serving him in others especially the needy), and priests (a life of prayer). A follower is not the leader, therefore, the follower cannot be a leader at the same time. One thing for sure is that we can never be greater than our leader Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, but he tells us that we can indeed be great if we are the BEST SERVANT. We need a PARADIGM SHIFT if we are so used to the kind of greatness the world perceives. Anyway, when we die, the achievement that will count most is what we have made of the life we have received from God. Nothing else.
Let our prayer be the PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS –
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace,
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong,
I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to
comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be understood;
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.
