Gospel : Mark 9 : 30 – 37
Year B
Jesus was instructing His disciples ….
You take time to instruct Your disciples, Lord. Their response to your call has not transformed them instantaneously. Their education will be long-term … It is only with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that they will eventually understand that You are not the human Messiah they were expecting.
You continue to instruct us, also, by Your Word, especially at each celebration of the Eucharist. The patience that You had with the Apostles, You also have with us, because ….how we resemble them!
They did not understand what He said and were afraid to ask ….
They remained stuck with their personal ideas of a human Messiah …. of earthly happiness ….. The subject You were tackling did not interest them. Instead of listening to You speak of suffering and death, they prefer to discuss amongst themselves as to who was the greatest!
What are our conversations worth? Is it to do with listening to You, Lord? A shared quest for the plan of God? Or is it chattering where everyone remains centred on himself? Even at Mass, how do I behave? Do I not remain too immersed in my worries, my preoccupations …. instead of listening to You?… instead of joining myself to Your prayer and to the offering of Your Body given and Blood poured out for the people?
Open my heart, Lord! May I let myself be instructed by You! Help me to put into practice what You said to Your disciples: If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself the servant of all! Let me become again like the child You gave us as a model, a child who allows himself to be guided in all confidence and simplicity …
