OT XXV [B] Wis 2:12, 17-20; Jas 3:16--4:3; Mk 9:30-37

At the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the

United Nations in 1983, the Secretary General, Javier Perez, rose from his seat to introduce Mother Teresa to an elite gathering of the representatives of all member countries of the U.N. He needed only one sentence for his introduction:  "I present to you the most powerful woman in the world!"

On March 3, 1976, conferring on Mother Teresa the highest honor of India’s Vishwa Bharati University, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, who was at that time  Prime Minister of India, said:  “I feel myself dwarfed when I stand before this holy and mighty woman who heroically showed the world how to practice Christian love in sacrificial and humble service.” For many years, the world watched, admired and honored this weak and elderly nun, always dressed in a blue bordered white sari, as the incarnation of humble and sacrificing Christian service.  She was the living proof of Jesus' words in today’s gospel that real greatness lies in serving others. Jesus teaches his apostles that child-like humility and loving, selfless service make one great in the eyes of God.

The lesson Jesus has been teaching by his example since the day of his birth, he now teaches with words.

And this lesson is a big one: the nature of true success. When Jesus and his apostles sit down to relax in Capernaum after a day of walking the hot, dusty roads of Galilee, he knows exactly what they have been talking about - success, glory, greatness. But the apostles are too embarrassed to admit it; they suspect that their interest in worldly success is too self-centered to be praiseworthy. But our Lord's response is  surprising. He doesn't tell them that they shouldn't desire to excel, to achieve, to do great things. He doesn't condemn that very normal impulse - because he knows that achieving things, making a difference in the world, is a basic need felt by every human heart. This is one of the purposes of our lives: being a sign of God's goodness by making a positive difference in the world. So Jesus doesn't scold them for wanting to do something great. Instead, he tells them what true greatness really is. The great task for every Christian isn't to achieve fame, fortune, popularity, power, and worldly success. Rather, it's the same task that Christ himself undertook: to serve others, to make others happy, to reach out to those who are weak and in need, like little children. Greatness in Christ's Kingdom is equated with humility, an attitude of the heart that puts the good of others ahead of one's own preferences: it's self-giving, not self-getting. He doesn't say to his apostles, "Don't strive to achieve great things," but he does point out where true, lasting, fulfilling greatness lies - in loving one's neighbor as Christ has loved them. Jesus is the Servant-Lord; we, his faithful disciples, are called to follow in those demanding footsteps. And at the last supper he demonstrated to them this teaching by washing the feet of his disciples.

We never become truly great, we never do our best work until we are "clothed with humility"; until, like our Lord and Savior, we are willing to live to serve others. 

Someone has said, "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your full height before some higher nature that will show you how small your greatness is." "Walk humbly with thy God." Here is where we learn true humility. Walking with God, seeing ourselves by the side of His greatness, we see how little we are. And seeing how little we are is the first step toward becoming what we can and ought to be.

 Benjamin Franklin, the early American statesman, made a list of character qualities that he wanted to develop in his own life. When he mastered one virtue, he went on to the next. He did pretty well, he said, until he got to humility. Every time he thought he was making significant progress, he would be so pleased with himself that he became proud. Humility is an

elusive virtue.

There is a story about a woman who had been trying for years to persuade her egotistical husband to change his ways. He was obsessed with being number one. He never stopped talking about being first in sales at the office. He proclaimed that he was first on the list for the next promotion. He had to be first in line to buy tickets for a game and also the first to hit the parking lot after the game.

One day this man's long-suffering wife watched with interest as he stepped on one of those fortune-telling scales. He dropped a coin in the slot and out came a little fortune-telling card that read: "You are a born leader, with superior intelligence, quick wit, and a charming manner. You have a magnetic personality and are attractive to the opposite sex."

"Read that," he said to his wife with a hint of gloating. She did, and then turned the card over and said: "It has your weight wrong too." 

A pastor who prepared a great message on humility.  But he was waiting for a bigger congregation to preach the sermon to! Another pastor was given an award for humility. A week later, the congregation took the award back because the pastor displayed it in his office!  Without humility we can never please God.

  

The Christian vocation is an apostolate of bearing witness to Christ through loving and humble service.  Christian history teaches us that whenever the members of Christ’s Church have forgotten or ignored this call to service, the Church has suffered. Jesus stands conventional wisdom on its head. The truly great person is a diakonos − a deacon − a servant − a person who spends his/her day taking loving care of other people. Jesus wants his apostles to substitute for their ambition to rule, thus becoming the first, the ambition to serve, thus becoming the last. We are all supposed to be serving in love, whatever our position or role in society, the family or the Church may be, because true greatness lies in being the loving servant or slave of all.

During the holy Mass let us pray for the true spirit of service, for an attitude of love for those around us.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to become truly great through loving, humble and selfless service. Mother Teresa puts it like this: “Be the living expression of God's kindness through humble service. Show kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile and kindness in your warm greeting.”