Wednesday March 7th, 2007
Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent
March 7, 2007
“Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest.”
Matthew 20:27
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What posters do young people have on the bedroom walls? What are the shows they are watching, things they are reading, music they are listening to? Who are their heroes and do these heroes have anything to do with greatness?
This year in Oregon we have the top ranked and fourth ranked senior in boy’s high school basketball players in the country. There is no doubt they are great players and they get a lot of press for being so. But we must take note of what society deems as greatness. Is greatness about trying to put a leather basketball through the rim with the goal to win an eternally meaningless basketball game? Is it being well-dressed and rich and famous? What does culture teach as greatness and what does Christ teach?
When I am with a couple preparing them for marriage I talk about how competition can destroy a relationship and that there is only one kind of competition that is allowed in marriage. I challenge the couple to a competition to out-love each other. If their whole focus is to serve each other with the food of heaven all the way to the glory of heaven, the marriage will be great. And this is the greatness Jesus came to teach us. It does not make the front page of the newspaper and the headlines of the news but it is true greatness.
Believe it or not, I have come up with an acronym for the word GREAT- God Redefines Everything; Agape Treatment. Yes, God has sent us the final and definitive word on what it means to be great; he sent us Jesus. In Jesus, God defines greatness for us. Greatness is found in imitating the Son of Man who has come, not to be served by others, but to give his whole life in service as a ransom for the many. This Agape treatment we are to give each other is the unconditional love that acts according to the intent that everyone we meet would go to heaven. We want the best, i.e. heaven, for others and we unconditionally serve them to that end.
Who cares about what culture calls greatness? What does Jesus teach with all his words and, most importantly, his body on the cross? Don’t you find it wrong that our youth do not have poster’s of Mother Theresa, John Paul II, the saints, and all holy women and men on their walls?
Go GREAT!
Live the confronted life!
+Fr. John
This year in Oregon we have the top ranked and fourth ranked senior in boy’s high school basketball players in the country. There is no doubt they are great players and they get a lot of press for being so. But we must take note of what society deems as greatness. Is greatness about trying to put a leather basketball through the rim with the goal to win an eternally meaningless basketball game? Is it being well-dressed and rich and famous? What does culture teach as greatness and what does Christ teach?
When I am with a couple preparing them for marriage I talk about how competition can destroy a relationship and that there is only one kind of competition that is allowed in marriage. I challenge the couple to a competition to out-love each other. If their whole focus is to serve each other with the food of heaven all the way to the glory of heaven, the marriage will be great. And this is the greatness Jesus came to teach us. It does not make the front page of the newspaper and the headlines of the news but it is true greatness.
Believe it or not, I have come up with an acronym for the word GREAT- God Redefines Everything; Agape Treatment. Yes, God has sent us the final and definitive word on what it means to be great; he sent us Jesus. In Jesus, God defines greatness for us. Greatness is found in imitating the Son of Man who has come, not to be served by others, but to give his whole life in service as a ransom for the many. This Agape treatment we are to give each other is the unconditional love that acts according to the intent that everyone we meet would go to heaven. We want the best, i.e. heaven, for others and we unconditionally serve them to that end.
Who cares about what culture calls greatness? What does Jesus teach with all his words and, most importantly, his body on the cross? Don’t you find it wrong that our youth do not have poster’s of Mother Theresa, John Paul II, the saints, and all holy women and men on their walls?
Go GREAT!
Live the confronted life!
+Fr. John
posted by Patti @ 5:34 AM
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