Dear Saints,

Can you imagine the scene in today’s Gospel? A bunch of rag-tag fishermen have unexpectedly been tapped to become best friends with the King of the universe, and they have the audacity to argue behind his back about who’s the greatest? It’s hilariously absurd.

But isn’t it also relatable? Other than his own mother, has there ever been a human being who did not at some point consider himself worthier or more important than Jesus? Today’s second reading, for example, was written to an audience who would have had intimate knowledge and remembrance of his death and resurrection, yet even their temporal proximity to his stunning victory over the forces of darkness wasn’t enough to keep them from falling into jealousy and selfish ambition.

This is our constant challenge too. We all tend to prefer ourselves to God, and the bitter fruit of giving into that temptation is division - within the world, within the Church, and within ourselves. The exaltation of self is an act of war, and we always pay the price for it.

But Jesus has blazed the better way. If we follow him on his path of humility, we can become servants of everyone we encounter, just like he did. Once we do that, our lives - and the lives of those we serve - will become pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, fruitful, constant, and sincere. And that will be the end of war.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ