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Today, 27th of September, we celebrate
Saint Vincent of Paul
Wisdom 2:12, 17-20
The wicked say:
Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.
Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him.
For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him.
Psalm 54:3-4,5,6&8
R./ The Lord upholds my life.
O God, by your name save me,
and by your might defend my cause.
O God, hear my prayer;
hearken to the words of my mouth.
R./ The Lord upholds my life.
For the haughty men have risen up againts me,
the ruthless seek my life;
they set not God before their eyes.
R./ The Lord upholds my life.
Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord sustains my life.
Freely will I offer you sacrifice;
I will praise your name, O Lord, for its goodness.
R./ The Lord upholds my life.
James 3:16-4:3
Beloved:
Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice.
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure,
then peaceable, gentle, compliant,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without inconstancy or insincerity.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
for those who cultivate peace.
Where do the wars
and where do the conflicts among you come from?
Is it not from your passions
that make war within your members?
You covet but do not possess.
You kill and envy but you cannot obtain;
you fight and wage war.
You do not possess because you do not ask.
You ask but do not receive,
because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Mark 9:30-37
Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee,
but he did not wish anyone to know about it.
He was teaching his disciples and telling them,
"The Son of Man is to be handed over to men
and they will kill him,
and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise."
But they did not understand the saying,
and they were afraid to question him.
They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house,
he began to ask them,
"What were you arguing about on the way?"
But they remained silent.
They had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.
Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
"If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all."
Taking a child, he placed it in the their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
"Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me."
Dear brothers and sisters, peace and blesings,
We continue to accompany Jesus, on the road to Jerusalem, with his disciples. The teaching of what is fundamental to be a true follower of the Master continues.
One thing that is clear is the Master’s ability to see what was going on around him. He had an all-encompassing gaze. In this passage from today’s Gospel, we see him looking ahead to his own future. And he does so without making hot air, assimilating what he sees, without excuses and without wanting to escape. He knows that he will be falsely accused, handed over to the authorities, and, in the end, he will die.
What he sees, he transmits to his disciples. And it is difficult for them to understand. They understand that it is something important, but they are afraid to go deeper. They do not dare to ask. It is the worst thing, not to ask, when we do not understand something. They are not ready yet. Their look is very human, it is not yet that of Jesus. They only see that their Master is going to die, perhaps. And they are afraid to ask, because they remember Christ’s hard answer to Peter’s dissuasive attempt (“Get behind me, Satan” (Mk 8:33).
And Jesus’ gaze goes further. He sees that some powerful men are against him, and that his fate is in the hands of those men. He knows that he is going to die, because of them. But he also knows that, ultimately, his destiny is in the hands of his Father, because he feels loved. There he can find rest in the heart of Christ. In that way, it was surely easier to accept destiny, that destiny that led to his death, and a death on a cross.
Persecution – the first reading reminds us – is a necessary event in the life of the righteous; it always shakes people who choose to live according to God. The preacher who does not worry may have relaxed, and may even have adopted the mentality of the irreligious. Jesus was not like that. Jesus goes to the end, and accepts death.
Because that destiny passes through death, yes, but – above all – through resurrection. Dying is the logical conclusion of the Incarnation. He had to share the destiny of every human being, our destiny, to be truly man. But Jesus was true man and true God. That is why he speaks of the resurrection, after three days. To give meaning to death, so that not everything ends here on earth. Because, thanks to Christ’s self-giving, death is not the end of the road. There is life after death. Jesus opened the way for us.
There is also a second part in today’s Gospel. Once again, the gaze of Jesus has a different scope than that of men. He goes to the bottom, to the depths: “to be the servant of all”; “he who welcomes a child welcomes God”. It seems that the Apostles were busy with other things. They were discussing positions, offices, to sit at the right or at the left of the Master. It is not wrong to aspire to the best charisms – as St. Paul says (1 Cor 12:31) – but what is wrong is to seek the first place leaving the others behind, or stepping on or displacing the others, when they are seen only as competitors. Almost as enemies. “Remove you, that I may place myself.”
Jesus asks them, knowing what they were talking about, because he would have heard it. What patience. He was talking about death and resurrection, and his “friends” were dividing their places. It is normal that they did not answer, they must have been very embarrassed. That is why, perhaps, he asks them to come closer – he sees them distant – so that they will not be far from him. When He has gathered them around Him, what Jesus tells them is that there is no need to displace the competitors, because we are all in the same thing, in the cause of the Kingdom, but that “whoever wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all.” This is what Jesus himself did all his life. It is what the true disciple must do.
It is that the Church is not a platform to reach positions of power, to excel, to gain dominion over others. It is the place where everyone, according to the gifts received from God, celebrates his own greatness in sincere and docile service to the brethren. In the eyes of God, the greatest is the one who most resembles Christ, who made himself the servant of all.
To make it clearer, so that there can be no doubt, he makes a gesture that attracts attention, placing a child at the center. It is a symbol of the fragile and defenseless being, who needs protection and care. In Jesus’ time, as today, children were loved, but they were not given social importance, they counted for nothing for the law, and were even considered impure because they transgressed the requirements of the Law.
Thanks to Christ, the Apostles realized that in the gaze of children, in their helpless presence, nothing less than God himself is revealed and calls to your conscience. This is why we must welcome and help the little ones. God is especially present in them, because they are open to newness, they are permeable and allow themselves to be helped.
The desire for power lurks in the hearts of many people, even within the Church. Jesus did not need his friends to confess to him that this desire was also in their hearts. These evil desires can be transformed, but in order to do so, one must “be like children”. To know that we are fragile, limited, loved. Identifying with the little ones, as Jesus does, allows us to understand what it means to serve and to be the first, being the servant of all.
May that be what we long for. “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, to gratify your passions,” says the second reading. May we know how to ask for what is right for us. May we be able to love the last place, as Christ did. May we always want to serve others. If we want to be disciples of Jesus we must not forget this in our concrete life. Maybe there is something you can do for others, at home, in the parish, in the neighborhood, at work. Look for it. Get to it. It is worthwhile. For the love of Christ.
Your brother in faith, Alejandro, C.M.F.
Alejandro Carbajo, cmf
The Lord upholds our life.
May the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.
A. Who Is the Greatest?
"We are the greatest, the mightiest, the strongest nation on earth," say the politicians. "I am the greatest of all time," says the boxer. "I am the boss, and you do what I say," says the manager. "I am stronger than you," says the schoolboy. "Anyone who wants to be first must make himself or herself the last and the servant of all," says Jesus. Jesus asks us, "What do you say?"
B. And A Child Shall Lead Them
We, parents particularly, all know how defenseless and fragile children are. That is why God loves children very much, as Jesus showed us in his whole life. Jesus tells us even how we have to become like children, not that we have to become childish but that like children we must be spontaneous, open and simple. Children do not ask for their due; they expect things from others and they accept everything as a gift. In the same way we must be open to the gifts of God and of people. People are God's gift to us too. Children symbolize the beginning of life; so everything should be ahead for us, too, and we go forward with Jesus as our guide.
A. Who Is the Greatest?
Too often the urge to dominate others is strong
and we are not ready to serve people.
We ask the Lord and people to forgive us.
(PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, you humbled yourself
and became like the least of us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you were born a little child
and became obedient to your parents:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you took our sins upon yourself
and served the Father and us to the end.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us when we are pretentious.
Make us servants with you
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
B. And A Child Shall Lead Them
Let us ask forgiveness from the Lord
that too often we are self-satisfied
and expect very little from him.
(PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, you loved little children
and you blessed them:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you tell us
that unless we become open and receptive like children
we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, in little children
and in all that who are weak and fragile
we welcome you and your Father:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
forgive us our pretensions, pride and self-assurance
and lead us forward in hope to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
A. Who Is the Greatest?
Let us ask the Lord
for the gift of knowing how to serve
(PAUSE)
God, giver of all good gifts,
give us the ambition to belong
among the last and the least
as people who know how to serve,
generously and without condescension,
the people around us,
especially all who are little and brittle.
We ask this through him
who made himself the servant of all,
Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
B. And A Child Shall Lead Them
Let us pray to God our Father
that he may welcome us into his kingdom
(PAUSE)
God our Father,
you tenderly stoop down to us,
fallible and limited people,
and your preference goes to children,
to the weak and the humble.
Help us to accept your good news
with the receptive attitude of children.
And give us also eyes of admiration
to see the mystery of your greatness and love,
that the kingdom of heaven may be ours.
Grant us this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading Introduction: The Upright Person Is Contested
The faith of the just is a silent accusation against those of little or no faith. This is why they are ridiculed or persecuted.
Second Reading Introduction: The True Christian Is a Peacemaker
How much peace there would be if Christians did not give in to the evil in their hearts.
Gospel Introduction: The Child as Model
Who is the greatest? In God's kingdom it is the little ones!.
Like Jesus, by loving them and praying for them, let us place in our midst the poor, the humble and all who serve, and let us say: R/ Lord, in you we trust.
- For those who are the greatest in the Church, that they may serve with great dedication and without looking down on them the weakest, the poorest, those wounded in life, let us pray: R/ Lord, in you we trust.
- For the mighty of this earth, that they may care about the rights, the dignity and well-being of especially the lowliest people under their charge, let us pray: R/ Lord, in you we trust.
- For people working in social welfare institutions, that they may provide shelter and much love for orphans and rejected or abandoned children, let us pray: R/ Lord, in you we trust.
- For those who work in lowly jobs shunned by others, for those who have unhealthy and dangerous tasks, for those who care for the old and the handicapped, that we may appreciate them and that the Lord may help them, let us pray: R/ Lord, in you we trust.
- For the leaders in our Christian communities, that they may serve the unity of all and make our parishes and neighborhoods places of welcome and acceptance for all, let us pray: R/ Lord, in you we trust.
Father, make us servants with Jesus that you may welcome us into your kingdom. Accept us in Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
With these gifts of bread and wine
we open ourselves, God our Father,
to your own gifts of life and growth
which you offer us in Jesus Christ.
May the bread of life he gives us
help us to grow up to his full maturity,
and may we give ourselves without calculation
to you and to one another
with the fresh simplicity of a child.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
All we have, all we are is a free gift from God. We are dependent on him. Let us thank the Father through the offering of this eucharist.
As God's children,
we pray with the fullest trust
the prayer taught us by Jesus: R/ Our Father...
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil,
for we know that we live in your hands.
Make us aware of our littleness
and of how much we are dependent
upon you and one another.
Keep us from all anxiety
and help us to grow in freedom
and responsibility for our lives
and for one another,
as we prepare in hope and joy
the full coming among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
This is Jesus our Lord,
who wanted the poor and the little ones
to come to him with trusting faith.
Happy are we to receive him. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Loving Father,
no one is greater than you,
yet you have made yourself small
and near to us in our weakness
in your Son Jesus Christ
here in this eucharist
and in every day life.
Give us the attitude of Jesus Christ,
self-effacing and respectful
before you and one another
in trust, hope and joy.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Those among us who are parents or teachers
love their children and try their best
to teach them all what is right and good.
But let us also learn from our children
to be spontaneous and trusting
towards God and one another,
admiring and grateful,
and expecting all that is good.
May God keep you in his love and bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us with one another go
the simple way of God's love. R/ Thanks be to God.
