Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 20, 2024: Can you drink the cup that I drink?

Can you drink the cup that I drink?
Do we really understand what our faith calls us to? 

   It must have been so difficult for Jesus to be misunderstood by so many people through his ministry on earth! Even those closest to him do not always understand where he is coming from… or where he is going. When, in Mark’s Gospel, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come to Jesus and ask to sit one at his right and one at his left, Jesus must have been at the very least frustrated, if not despondent. Can you drink the cup that I drink? he asks them. Can you share my fate? Do you not realize that I have come to suffer, as the Suffering Servant in the Book of Isaiah, of whom it is said, the Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity? 

   Jesus is that Servant, come to offer redemption on behalf of all people, giving us the opportunity to return to God, restoring our access to the Lord who loves us. His sacrifice, that of the great high priest who has passed through the heavens, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, compels us to hold fast to our confession, to hold firmly to our faith, to live up to what we believe. He, the ever-faithful Suffering Servant, gave his life as an offering for sin; through his suffering, he justified many, that all might seek to see the light in fullness of days, safe from the darkness of sin. Like Jesus’ disciples, we too must pass through death to life in him. 

    Jesus Christ is the source of our hope. Only through Christ can we receive mercy and find grace for timely help, the mercy and grace humankind has sought through all the ages, as Psalm 33 makes clear: Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. Only when the eyes of the Lord are upon us and our eyes are clearly fixed upon him can we know the fullness of his mercy and the true joy of connection, a connection made possible by the sacrifice of the Servant who gave all, that we might have all, in him. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Someone to walk with (Mavis Staples & Van Morrison)

Lord, if I ever needed someone, I need You

Lord, if I ever needed someone, I need You 

See me through the daytime

And through the long, lonely night

Lead me through the darkness

And on into the light

Stand with me when I'm troubled

And help me through my strife

When times get so uncertain, I turn to You

Turn to You in my young life 

Refrain 

Someone to hold on to

Keep me from all fear

Someone to be my guiding light

And hold me ever dear

Keep me from all my selfishness

Keep me from all my sorrow

With your forgivingness

So I can see a new tomorrow 

Refrain 

Someone to walk with

Someone to hold by the hand

Someone to talk with

Someone to understand

To call on when I need You

And I need You very much

Open up my arms to You

And feel Your tender touch

To feel it and to keep it

Right here in my soul

Care for it and keep it with me

Never to grow old 

Refrain 

To hear Mavis Staples and Van Morrison sing If I Ever Needed Someone, click on the video below: 

Image source: https://peterpilt.org/2014/01/19/your-walk-with-goda-sermon-based-on-enoch/
Video source

Closeness, compassion and tenderness (Pope Francis)

    Jesus, who goes towards wounded humanity, shows us the face of the Father. It may be that within us there is still the idea of a distant, cold God, who is indifferent to our fate. On the contrary, the Gospel shows us that, after teaching in the synagogue, Jesus goes out, so that the Word he has preached may reach, touch and heal people. By doing this, he reveals to us that God is not a detached master who speaks to us from on high. On the contrary, he is a Father filled with love who makes himself close to us, who visits our homes, who wants to save and liberate, heal from every ill of the body and spirit. God is always close to us. God’s attitude can be expressed in three words: closeness, compassion and tenderness. God makes himself close to accompany us tenderly, and to forgive us. Do not forget this: closeness, compassion and tenderness. This is God’s attitude. 

--Pope Francis 

Image source: https://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/2023-04/ing-017/buddhists-and-christians-healing-wounded-humanity-and-the-earth.html
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Once you let go of the world (Sr. Joan Chittister / Bishop Robert Barron)

Life is a journey whose endpoint
is always a stretch away.
The more we have, the more we grasp.
And then the realization dawns:
Even if we have gained
everything worth having in life,
none of those things will ever
satisfy the emptiness within.

 --Sr. Joan Chittister 

    [In Sunday’s] Gospel, the Lord explains why it’s hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Don’t think in terms of some specific measurement of wealth. Think in terms of a frame of mind. A rich person is convinced that joy will come from filling up the ego. 

    So Peter asked: "We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?" And Jesus replied, "Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life." It’s so important to note that this is not a sort of capitalist calculation: just make a good investment and you’ll get a spectacular return; you’ll have all the houses and money you want. 

    Once you let go of the world in a spirit of detachment, once you remove the things of this world from your grasp and see them without distortion, you will really have them. They will appear as they are, as God intended them. They will no longer be objects for your manipulation or possession but beautiful realities in themselves. 

--Bishop Robert Barron,
 Gospel Reflection, August 17, 2021 

Image source: School of G. Hoffman, Jesus Christ with a Rich Man, https://asanefaith.com/what-must-i-do-to-inherit-eternal-life/
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Love stems from commitment (Meghan Larsen-Reidy)

   Love stems from a commitment. Jesus’ commandment is to form relationships – a relationship with God and relationships with people. Loving relationships require time and effort and are not always convenient. They ask us to prioritize the Divine and people over material possessions or appearances. This commitment to others and to God changes our actions. It effects how we spend our time, where we put our money, how we pray, how we care for our common home, and how we serve the most vulnerable. Jesus modeled this love throughout his life. He sat with the sick, dying, poor, outcast, lonely, and forgotten, and entered into relationship with them so they knew love. In turn, Jesus calls us to do the same. 

    Sometimes we get in our own way. The lure of wealth, power, knowledge, and prestige hinder our ability to love. David Brooks writes about the difference between résumé virtues and eulogy virtues. We often worry about appearing the best that we forget we should simply love the best. 

    

    When we open our eyes to see the expansiveness of God’s love in the people that surround us, we draw into a deeper relationship with the Divine. We cannot always anticipate the impact that each new relationship will have on our lives and vice versa. God is calling us to be open to the love that is waiting for us and to share that love with others. Our small acts of love may make an impact that we only hear about from heaven. 

--Meghan Larsen-Reidy 

Image source: Georges Rouault, Christ and Mammon, https://emuseum.vassar.edu/objects/5494/christ-and-mammon-by-roger-lacouriere-for-passion
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Wisdom, God's creative energy (Patricia Smith, RSM)

   At its deepest level, Wisdom is a female symbol for the very mystery of God. She is the personification of God’s presence and activity in the created world. She lures God’s creatures along the right path in life. She delights in human beings. She is God’s creative energy, involved with the world. 

   May Wisdom enlighten all of us to the power of God’s gracious, patient love already enveloping us in her open arms today. 

--Patricia Smith, RSM 

Image source: Full-page illustration of Sapientia (Wisdom),12th century. Wisdom is the central figure, between the figures of Christ (above), Zechariah, father of John the Baptist and the patriarch Jacob (below), David and Abraham, Malachi and Balaam, Isaiah, and Daniel (to the left and right, respectively), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Wisdom
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The way of wisdom (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

   The way of wisdom is the way of pondering, the way of holding every kind of pain, suffering, delight, and contradiction long enough until it transforms you, gestates compassion within you, and brings you to your knees in a thousand surrenders. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI,

Facebook, March 27, 2024 

Image source: Pieter de Grebber (c. 1600-1652/1653), King David in Prayer, https://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-secret-of-happiness-is-surrender
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