WHOEVER WANTS TO BE GREAT MUST BE A SERVANT
Sunday, October 17
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Roman Ordinary calendar
Book of Isaiah 53,10-11.
The LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity. If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.
Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.
Psalms 33(32),4-5.18-19.20.22.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
Letter to the Hebrews 4,14-16.
Brothers and sisters: Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10,35-45.
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
He replied, “What do you wish (me) to do for you?”
They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Dominican theologian, Doctor of the Church
On the Apostles’ Creed (Collationes In Symbolum apostolorum, art. 4 § 64.70.72-76; (trans. Joseph Collins)
“Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant”
What need was there that the Son of God should suffer for us? There was great need: and indeed it can be assigned to two reasons. The first is that it was a remedy against sin, and the second is for an example of what we should do. (…) For the Passion of Christ can bring about a complete reformation of our lives. (…) If you seek an example of charity, then “no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). (…) If you seek an example of patience, you will find it in its highest degree on the cross. (…) Christ suffered greatly upon the cross and with all patience, because “when he was insulted, he returned no insult” (1 Pt 2:23), “like a lamb led to the slaughter, he opened not his mouth” (Is 53:7). (…) “Let us persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame” (Heb 12:1-2).
If you seek an example of humility, look upon him who is crucified; although he was God, he chose to be judged by Pontius Pilate and put to death. (…) If you seek an example of obedience, imitate him who was obedient to the Father “even to death” (Phil 2:8). “For just as through the disobedience of one person, Adam, the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:19). (…) If you seek an example of contempt for earthly things, imitate him who is “King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tm 6:15), “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3). On the cross he was stripped naked, ridiculed, spat upon, bruised, crowned with thorns, given to drink of vinegar and gall.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
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