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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

View saints: Memorial of Saint Philip Neri, Priest
Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (Sir 36:1.4-5a.10-17): Come to our aid, o God of the universe, look upon us, show us the light of your mercies, and put all the nations in dread of you! Thus they will know, as we know, that there is no God but you, o Lord. Give new signs and work new wonders. Gather all the tribes of Jacob, that they may inherit the land as of old. Show mercy to the people called by your name; Israel, whom you named your firstborn. Take pity on your holy city, Jerusalem, your dwelling place. Fill Zion with your majesty, your temple with your glory. Give evidence of your deeds of old; fulfill the prophecies spoken in your name, reward those who have hoped in you, and let your prophets be proved true. Hear the prayer of your servants, for you are ever gracious to your people; and lead us in the way of justice. Thus it will be known to the very ends of the earth that you are the eternal God.
Responsorial Psalm: 78
R/. Show us, o Lord, the light of your kindness.
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low.

Help us, O God our savior, because of the glory of your name; deliver us and pardon our sins for your name’s sake.

Let the prisoners’ sighing come before you; with your great power free those doomed to death.

Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; through all generations we will declare your praise.

Versicle before the Gospel (Mk 10:45): Alleluia. The Son of Man came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Mk 10:32-45): The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise."

Then 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 chalice 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 chalice 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."

“For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”

Fr, René PARADA Menéndez (San Salvador, El Salvador)

Today, the Lord teaches us what our attitude before the Cross must be. The ardent love of Jesus for His Father's Will, to carry out the salvation of Mankind, of each man, of each woman, urges Him to quickly move towards Jerusalem, “the Son of Man will be handed over… they will condemn him to death… scourge him, and put him to death” (Mk 10:33-34). Though, at times, we may not understand it or may be afraid of pain and suffering or of every day's contradictions, let us try to lovingly join God's salvific will with the offering of our daily Cross.

Assiduous prayer and the Sacraments, especially the personal Confession of our sins and the Eucharist, will increase our love for God and our love for others, in such a way that we shall be able to affirm that “We can” (Mk 10:39), in spite of our misery, fears and sins. Yes, we shall be able to take up our daily cross and follow Him (cf. Lk 9:23) for love, with a smile; that cross that is evidenced by our ordinary everyday life: tiredness in our job, family difficulties, social relations, etc.

Only if we embrace our cross every day, denying ourselves to serve others, shall we be able to identify ourselves with the Christ, who came “to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45). Saint John Paul II explained in this way: “Jesus' service attains its fullest expression in his death on the cross, that is, in his total gift of self in humility and love.” Let us, therefore, imitate Jesus Christ, by constantly transforming our love for Him in servicing actions for other people: wealthy or poor, educated or uneducated, young or old, without distinction. Servicing actions to get them closer to God and free them from sin.

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “True God and true man were combined to form one Lord, so that, as suited the needs of our case, one and the same Mediator between God and men could both die and rise.” (Saint Leo the Great)

  • “While it is usually the case that anything unclean touching something clean renders it unclean, here it is the other way around. Through this contact, the filth of the world is truly absorbed, wiped out, and transformed in the pain of infinite love.” (Benedict XVI)

  • “By his loving obedience to the Father, ‘unto death, even death on a cross’ (Phil 2:8), Jesus fulfils the atoning mission of the suffering Servant, who will ‘make many righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities’ (Is 53:11).” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nº 623)