First reading James 4:1-10
Resist the devil and he will run away
Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Isn’t it precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You want something and you haven’t got it; so you are prepared to kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. Why you don’t have what you want is because you don’t pray for it; when you do pray and don’t get it, it is because you have not prayed properly, you have prayed for something to indulge your own desires.
You are as unfaithful as adulterous wives; don’t you realise that making the world your friend is making God your enemy? Anyone who chooses the world for his friend turns himself into God’s enemy. Surely you don’t think scripture is wrong when it says: the spirit which he sent to live in us wants us for himself alone? But he has been even more generous to us, as scripture says: God opposes the proud but he gives generously to the humble. Give in to God, then; resist the devil, and he will run away from you. The nearer you go to God, the nearer he will come to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and clear your minds, you waverers. Look at your wretched condition, and weep for it in misery; be miserable instead of laughing, gloomy instead of happy. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.
Responsorial Psalm 54(55):7-11,23
Entrust your cares to the Lord and he will support you.
O that I had wings like a dove
to fly away and be at rest.
So I would escape far away
and take refuge in the desert.
I would hasten to find a shelter
from the raging wind,
from the destructive storm, O Lord,
and from their plotting tongues.
For I can see nothing but violence
and strife in the city.
Night and day they patrol
high on the city walls.
Entrust your cares to the Lord
and he will support you.
He will never allow
the just man to stumble.
Gospel Mark 9:30-37
Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me
Jesus and his disciples made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, ‘The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.
They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ They said nothing because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’ He then took a little child, set him in front of them, put his arms round him, and said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’
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Change of mentality
Jesus was on the way to Galilee with His discipes. Along the way, He shared the sadness in His heart with them because He knew the suffering He would soon face. The disciples could not grasp the depth of His words. Instead, they discussed who among them would be the leader when Jesus established His Kingdom. Jesus patiently instructed them about the values that they should cultivate and live as His disciples: “If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.”
What about us? Do we understand that the worldly values of power and honour are opposite to the values of the Gospel? In the world’s mindset, to be the first is to receive praise and be recognised by all. For Jesus, to be the first is to serve with humility without seeking recognition. Pope Francis said: “Service is the only way to good leadership”. We need to change our worldly mentality to conform to the mind of our Master, who came to serve and not to be served.
Reflective question:
Am I ready to be at the service of the growth of others?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year B” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD.
