Serves to meet Him

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary point out the path through which the faith and hope we experience in the contemplation of a world and life in which Love dominates can be realized. The cynical mind or the partial vision which Peter was described as having in the Gospel yesterday do not comprehend change through service.  Peter is rebuked by Jesus as one who is taken by the temptation that the change desired will come through an exercise of Divine power in the manner of kings and emperors. Friar Jude Winkler compares the sense of justification by God declared in the letter of James with the justification by faith as proclaimed by Paul. He notes that the use of Abraham as the example of both may be confusing for the modern Western mind but Jewish thought of the time would delight in wrestling with the truth which is part of both claims. Our apparent need to have an answer “right” or “wrong” makes it difficult to tease out the deeper and real situation. Mary Longo of Creighton University tells of her discussion with a Protestant friend which led to an understanding that the practice of faith is supported by works. She cites the apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis Evangelii Gaudium or The Joy of the Gospel as an inspiration to become that missionary Church which is Christ in the lives of the people through action. A phrase attributed to Pope Francis is that the shepherd must smell like the sheep. We need the faith proclaimed by Paul to be reassured that the cross we pick up every day is not the action which returns us to reconciliation with God. Jesus makes that reconciliation through His Cross. Our cross is a communion with the work of Jesus through which He is made known to the entire world. Unlike the rich and powerful who must struggle daily to keep their power and prestige, James tells us that when we deny our self aggrandizement and serve we transcend from those who the Gospel from Mark notes are ashamed of Jesus and His Way to those who act to meet Him in the sheep around us.