Happy Lord's Day: Glory and Suffering

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus 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.”

Mk 10:35-45

I am the ten. If someone were to have the gall to ask for such a favor from the Lord Himself, my first reaction would be annoyance, too. James and John exhibited incredible boldness, to the point of irrationality. Jesus had just predicted his Passion for the third time, and yet James and John immediately ask to “sit one at your right and the other at your left” without hesitation. 

I wonder if James and John knew that to do so would mean enduring a thousand sufferings, exercising obedience even until death. Based upon Jesus’ response, it seems as though the brothers sought only the glory of the Lord; they failed to recognize the responsibility and suffering that were required of them to earn such a reward. 

Yet even more astounding to me than the blind request of the brother disciples was the reaction of the other ten. They, too, had heard Jesus predict his Passion. They, too, chose to ignore his suffering and focus instead on the glory  for which James and John had so boldly asked. They became jealous, perhaps, of the two brothers who thought they were so close with Jesus to ask to dwell in eternal glory with him. 

I pray that God would give me the grace to beg so ardently for suffering, even when I know the intensity of that suffering. I do not think that the disciples intended to beg for suffering, but Jesus offers it to them nonetheless: “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.” 

A heart of the world rejects suffering. Too often, I find myself avoiding even the tiniest displeasure; I tend to have that worldly heart. This summer, I begrudgingly read St. Thérèse’s autobiographical Story of a Soul. I was shocked by her desire for suffering and by her writings, which inextricably intertwined love and suffering. She says: 

Do not believe that you can love without suffering, without suffering a great deal... It is our poor nature that is there! And it is not there for nothing! ... This is our wealth, our livelihood! ... It is so precious that Jesus came to our earth in order to make it his own. Let us suffer bitterly, without courage! "Jesus suffered with sadness! And without sadness does the soul suffer!?" And we would like to suffer generously, nobly!... Celine! What an illusion! that would be!" (LT 89, 26. April, 1889)

Not only are we opposed to suffering, wishing to surpass it in favor of glory; we allow ourselves to suffer only when we suffer “nobly,” that is, without complaint and with courage. How silly are we in the eyes of Jesus! Like James and John, we want only the rewards of suffering. We fail to recognize the suffering itself as the means by which we can climb to Heaven. 

Just prior to this Gospel, Jesus called his disciples together to tell them that “[T]he Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.” The disciples did not desire condemnation, mockery, ridicule, scourging, and death. In their shortsightedness and humanity, they did not see the merits of suffering because it is painful. Through Jesus’ pain, however—in Jesus’ moment of ultimate defeat—he redeemed the world. 

He wishes for us to participate in his suffering so that we might know life in him. 

When we reject suffering, we reject all that follows. What a gift it is to be able to participate in his suffering so that he might transform us! 

Deliver me, Jesus, from the desires for earthly glory and material success. Help me to choose to suffer, not in vain, but alongside you on the cross. Transform my heart in suffering and grant me peace and joy in your name. Amen. 

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Rebecca Vodola is a sophomore English major and an intent to Totus Tuus Maria household. She hails from Connecticut, where she enjoys hiking with her family. Rebecca loves drinking tea, carrying on Italian family traditions, going to morning Mass, and reading. Her favorite books include The Phantom Tollbooth, the Harry Potter series, The Book Thief, and Hard Times, but she reads anything and everything, including receipts on the kitchen table. Some of her favorite saints are St. John Paul II, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, and Our Lady Undoer of Knots. Rebecca learns more about our beautiful Catholic faith each day. You can find out more about her here. 

Happy Lord's Day: soft and childlike hearts

The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,

"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"

They were testing him.

He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"

They replied, "Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her."

But Jesus told them,

"Because of the hardness of your hearts

he wrote you this commandment.

But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother

and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh.

So they are no longer two but one flesh.

Therefore what God has joined together,

no human being must separate.'"

In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.

He said to them,

"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another

commits adultery against her;

and if she divorces her husband and marries another,

she commits adultery."

And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,

but the disciples rebuked them.

When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,

"Let the children come to me;

do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Amen, I say to you, 

whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child

will not enter it."

Then he embraced them and blessed them,

placing his hands on them.

Mk 10:2-16

When I first read this Gospel, I was a little confused.

First Jesus is talking about God's original plan for marriage and how divorce, though it was permitted by Moses, is not actually cool. Then it seems like we've reached a totally different subject and He starts talking about children.

My first reaction was, 'Yeah, these are both great, but what the heck do they have to do with each other?"

And then my intelligence kicked in and I realized that the Church wouldn't put these two together for this Sunday's Gospel reading if they didn't have something to do with one another (side tangent, here's a good example of why the Magisterium is the ultimate interpreter of Scripture and not me--I don't see the big picture without a little nudge from those wiser than I).

Divorce was not a part of God's original plan for man and woman. It was permitted under the Mosaic law because of the hardness of the Israelites' hearts. Their hearts had become hardened, jaded, stony. They were no longer soft, trusting, easily loving. 

I can relate, Israelites. It seems to me that the older I grow, the more jaded I am. With each passing year, as I move further into adult life and reality, I have to fight even harder to not let my heart become hardened by this world and all of the stresses that come with it.

You know who has hearts that are soft? Hearts that haven't been hardened or jaded by this world? Hearts that are trusting? Hearts that easily love and are easy to love?

Children.

See the connection yet?

In this Gospel passage, Jesus is telling us that if we want to enter the kingdom of Heaven, we need to allow our hearts to be softened. We need to look to the example of children, who don't allow negativity to stop them from fully living, who don't allow worry and anxiety to get in the way of trusting that their every need will be provided for, who love without counting the cost or caring if they're loved in return. 

With childlike simplicity, we don't need concessions that keep us from living the way God intended us to in the first place.

With childlike simplicity, we can trust that all we have and all we are come from the hands of a loving Father who will never abandon or forsake us.

With childlike simplicity, we can know that even if following God's plan doesn't feel easy, He will give us the grace we need to overcome any obstacle and find the true treasure that He promises us.

I don't know about you, but that sounds a heck of a lot better than what the Israelites had under the Mosaic law.

Lord, soften my heart with Your love. Help me to learn from the example of the children around me. Help me to turn to You like a child, with all trust that You will provide for my every need. Help me to surrender those things that threaten to harden my heart to You and Your people--worry, anxiety, selfishness, pride. Help me to know that Your plan is all good.

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Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, her younger siblings, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. Along with being a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, she's involved in Capture My Heart Core Team, Liturgy Committee, and Totus Tuus Maria Household. Her five great loves are JPII, St. Peter, tea, praise and worship music, and the ocean. Along with Shannon, one of Catie's roles in Women's Ministry is to run this blog. You can find out more about her here.

Happy Lord's Day: a great responsibility

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark:

"At that time, John said to Jesus,

'Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,

and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.'

Jesus replied, 'Do not prevent him. 

There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name

who can at the same time speak ill of me.

For anyone who is not against us is for us.

Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink

because you belong to Christ,

amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

'Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, 

it would be better for him if a great millstone

were put around his neck

and he were thrown into the sea.

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.

It is better for you to enter into life maimed

than with two hands to go into Gehenna,

into the unquenchable fire.

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.

It is better for you to enter into life crippled

than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye

than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,

where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.''"

Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

Whoa. I don't know about you, but this Sunday's Gospel feels a little heavy. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea."

Ouch. It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around our necks than to cause one of these little ones to sin. 

Our Lord's words seem pretty tough, but that's because He's trying to teach us something important about sin. 

Sisters, we carry a great responsibility. I'm going to make an assumption and say that if you've chosen to come to Franciscan to study, it's because you're serious about your faith. We are so privileged to be in such a formative environment where we have incredible opportunities to grow in our faith. As a senior, I think I can safely say that there's nowhere like Franciscan.

But to risk sounding cliché, with that great privilege comes a great responsibility. We are being formed in our faith to an extent that most other Catholics in our country aren't. This is a great gift, but it also means that we're held to a higher standard.

Because sisters, Jesus' words in this Gospel passage are directed to us. We know the seriousness of sin. We know the seriousness of leading others into sin. Therefore, when we do it, it's far worse than if we didn't know.

Jesus' words to us seem pretty drastic. Cut off your hand and foot? Pluck out your eye?

He's saying a lot of drastic things to make a point to us:

Get to heaven, daughters, and take as many people there with you as possible.

We're privileged to be His followers, sisters. Let's embrace the responsibility that comes with that privilege. Let's remember that there's nothing Jesus wants more for us than for us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Let's do everything we can to root out the sin in our lives so that we can get there, and let's do everything we can to take as many people with us as possible.

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Catie Destatte is a senior Theology and Catechetics major. She has a passion for writing, Mama Mary, ministry to women, her younger siblings, and evangelization. Her life motto is Totus Tuus Maria, and she tries to live that out in her every moment. Along with being a member of Women's Ministry Core Team, she's involved in Capture My Heart Core Team, Liturgy Committee, and Totus Tuus Maria Household. Her five great loves are JPII, St. Peter, tea, praise and worship music, and the ocean. Along with Shannon, one of Catie's roles in Women's Ministry is to run this blog. You can find out more about her here.