True greatness

Tuesday, February 26, 2019
7th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Sir 2:1-11
Gospel: Mark 9:30-37

Jesus and his disciples made their way through Galilee; but Jesus did not want people to know where he was because he was teaching his disciples. And he told them, “The Son of Man will be delivered into human hands. They will kill him, but three days after he has been killed, he will rise.” The disciples, however, did not understand these words and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, Jesus asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they did not answer because they had been arguing about who was the greatest.

Then he sat down, called the Twelve and said to them, “If someone wants to be first, let him be last of
all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child, placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, “Whoever welcomes a child such as this in my name, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me but the One who sent me.”

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

Here is Sa-eh Poh’s joke of the day: AMO: Este, muchacha, tanghaling tapat na, ihanda mo na ang tanghalian para makakain na ang lahat. MAID: Mauna na po kayong kumain, Sir, busog pa po ako! AMO: Ang ibig kong sabihin, ihanda mo ang lamesa. MAID: Nakatayo lang po ang lamesa, Sir, always ready yan!
Servants are supposed to be the last: the last to eat and the last to rest. Like servants we should be the last to claim privileges over others. If we are to be first, it should be in serving one another. This is true greatness in the mind of God.

Some people seek greatness up there. But experience teaches us that the higher we climb the social strata, the lonelier our life becomes. Movements are restricted and the information reaching us is filtered. Others even do the thinking for us. This notwithstanding, many ambitious people would still want to be at the top. It’s going to be a dog-eat-dog environment up there because it is the meeting point of ambitious people.

Ambition for the wrong reasons sets a person climbing perilous stairs. He never cares about how to come down. Descent is not part of his plan in the first place. “The desire of rising has swallowed up his fear of a fall”, wrote Thomas Adams in ‘Diseases of the Soul’.

Servants gain stability by staying low. “Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions”, said Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in ‘Drift-wood’. If we want true greatness, let’s stay down on the ground of service. After all, Jesus only elevated himself when it was time to climb the cross. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.

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