THOSE IN LEADERSHIP MUST BE AT THE SERVICE OF ALL

XXIX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 10:35-45

We may think that the Church should be holy and blameless, without stains from corruption and depravation and without the power struggles which undermine her credibility. However, we should know that the Church is a source of holiness for her members, who are sinners, only because of her head, Christ, who is the redeemer and saviour. We can easily be scandalised when we see the dirty tricks used by leaders who have a grudge against other leaders in the Church or simply because they want to increase their sphere of influence.  However, this is as old as the Church, as we are told in this Sunday’s gospel. 

The two brothers, James and John, approached Jesus with a request that left all the others full of indignation, what shows that all of them had the same deep hidden desire for a position of influence and power. Throughout the history of the Church, we can find plenty of leaders - popes and bishops - who looked for power, putting on their heads the crown of royalty and imposing their will by the power of the sword, and they did all this in the name of Christ. However, by doing that, they were betraying Jesus Christ. 

The narrative of the temptations makes it very clear that Jesus rejected power as the way to establish the Kingdom of God. When he suspected that people wanted to make him king, he went into hiding. To the apostles and to us, Jesus put himself forward as an example: he did not come to be served, but to serve, and to serve to the point of giving his life for the salvation of all. 

Whenever the Church accepts power and exercises authority in the manner of the rulers of this world, it is diverting from the path that leads to salvation. In the Church, according to Jesus, authority should be exercised solely as a service, and the leaders must become the slaves of all.

Let us ask the Lord to give us a humble heart to serve. Let us pray for the pope and the bishops asking for them the humility to serve.

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WORLD MISSION DAY

Together with young people, let us bring the Gospel to all 

“Every man and woman is a mission; that is the reason for our life on this earth. To be attracted and to be sent are two movements that our hearts, especially when we are young, feel as interior forces of love; they hold out promise for our future and they give direction to our lives. More than anyone else, young people feel the power of life breaking in upon us and attracting us. To live out joyfully our responsibility for the world is a great challenge. I am well aware of lights and shadows of youth; when I think back to my youth and my family, I remember the strength of my hope for a better future. The fact that we are not in this world by our own choice makes us sense that there is an initiative that precedes us and makes us exist. Each one of us is called to reflect on this fact: “I am a mission on this Earth; that is the reason why I am here in this world” (Evangelii Gaudium, 273). 

We proclaim Jesus Christ 

The Church, by proclaiming what she freely received (cf. Mt 10:8; Acts 3:6), can share with you young people the way and truth which give meaning to our life on this earth. Jesus Christ, who died and rose for us, appeals to our freedom and challenges us to seek, discover and proclaim this message of truth and fulfilment. Dear young people, do not be afraid of Christ and his Church! For there we find the treasure that fills life with joy. I can tell you this from my own experience: thanks to faith, I found the sure foundation of my dreams and the strength to realize them. I have seen great suffering and poverty mar the faces of so many of our brothers and sisters. And yet, for those who stand by Jesus, evil is an incentive to ever greater love. Many men and women, and many young people, have generously sacrificed themselves, even at times to martyrdom, out of love for the Gospel and service to their brothers and sisters. From the cross of Jesus we learn the divine logic of self-sacrifice (cf. 1 Cor 1:17-25) as a proclamation of the Gospel for the life of the world (cf. Jn 3:16). To be set afire by the love of Christ is to be consumed by that fire, to grow in understanding by its light and to be warmed by its love (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). At the school of the saints, who open us to the vast horizons of God, I invite you never to stop wondering: “What would Christ do if he were in my place?” (Pope Francis, Message for the World Mission Day).