”You are going to serve somebody”…..Who will that “somebody” be?

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Mark….The disciples are arguing among themselves as to who is the greatest among them…Can you imagine!…..Are they in it for personal gain?!?…Jesus hears this and addresses the conversation with a revolutionary idea…Remember - Jesus was the world’s greatest revolutionary!…….“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all”…Are you ready to be the servant of all?…Does not sound to glamorous to me!…..To follow Jesus means we must serve…Many times that means taking the “back-seat” to others…..This is what Jesus did…”The son of man came to serve and not to be served”….How about you?

“Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.”

Before one can be a leader, he or she first must understand what it means to serve….A father does this in his home…Dad comes last…He is there to not only lead his family but to serve his family…..When we lose sight of why we were created…To Love God -To Serve God - And to be with God for all eternity…When we begin to look to satisfy our own needs first as opposed to the needs of others…We lose sight of God……Selfishness is the killer of our faith…The destroyer of marriages….And the cause of just about every conflict the world as ever seen or known….People not only want what is theirs…They want yours as well…..This is what happens when God is not at the center of ones life…We get misdirected…Feel entitled…Justify bad behavior and make bad choices…..”I am going to get mine”…..This mind set leads to misery not only for the person who lives by it but all those who encounter such an individual

“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”

The greatest example Catholics can give to the world is to spend themselves at the service of others….This kind of example stops traffic…You do not even have to believe in God to be in awe of seeing such an example…This is the example that points to God and changes hearts…..This is what Jesus did from the cross…..When I would go to Kolkata I would watch Mother Teresa’s sisters serve men who were dying…The work was messy….Day in and day out they would do it…Thankless work….From cleaning the wounds of a burn victim…To feeding an old man…To mopping up the floor….To changing adult diapers…Nothing glamorous here…Yet in completing all of these humble tasks, the sisters die to them self…Only to be then filled by God, in and through daily prayer and the Sacraments and when we are filled by God - We set the world on fire!.....…This is what Our Lady did as well…Our Lady did not do anything extraordinary…She was a mother…She was a wife….She took care of the family home…But in all those things she was obedient to God…And when we are obedient to God…Everything we do becomes extraordinary…And in turn we become extraordinary….By doing the ordinary….And in turn we became a catalyst for change in the world

“In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world”

Getting back to St Mark’s gospel from Mass today….“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all”…….If God himself came to serve why do we think somehow we are not meant to serve as well…A man cannot lead others if first he does not know how to serve….Because in the end “the last will be first and the first will be last”…..”The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”……Ultimately, as the great Bob Dylan once said….”You are going to serve somebody”…..Who will that “somebody” be?