A. Back ground: last 2 sundays we reflected on how we can get the God's Will in married life and in individual life.
For both cases one should follow 10 commandments, practice love and pardoning and adhere to church rules. Then in married life, try to follow the forceful action, like a child, even when you are not in agreement with the action.(But it should not be in contravene to commandments)
In individual case, one should be able to leave any possession, for the grace of God.
To day church is reflecting about, the characteristics of God's kingdom. Flat orgernisation, with God as the head!, common weakness that is faced by church going catholics-pride going towards Ego-maniac.
B. To days readings:
B.1 Ego Maniac!
Someone who thinks that they are very important, and tries to get advantages for themselves without caring about how this affects other people.
Ego is normally arising out of Pride.
Pride; it is too great an admiration of oneself. Pride has 7 evil consequences: boasting, love for publicity, hyprocrisy, hardheadness,discord,
When you lose identifying, God as the sole source of your success, you tend to replace God by yourself. People who are in power, who controls other humans, normally get Pride.
Similarly, few priest in catholic church, without, their knowledge, get this, mainly due to converting of bread to Holy Eucharist. This special power,they get is to serve the people not to develop pride. Ultimately, any doubts about faith to be cleared by the devotees,are ignored!.
B.2 Riffle effect:
Have you ever noticed that many times, the grass immediately surrounding a sprinkle head is brown?. So much energy and drive is going to the outer reaches of the yard that the grass closest to the source of water is left dry.
Jesus understood the theory of educating and informing His people first. He practiced the Ripple style of management, depending in a small circles to spread into bigger ones. A good public relations plan will include both internal and external PR. Internal PR is normally the priority!.
When you are on mission to reveal God's kingdom, sometimes you deviate with basic knowledge of Commandments. You may be thinking that you are aware about all basic factors and you tend to forget, basic missionary action!.
B.3 Church and politics:
In past,power & religion were interconnected!,which contradict Mt 22:21'So give back to Caesar what is Caesar & to God what is God'
In 1161 Thomas Becket(37yrs)became most powerful figure in UK,as Archbishop of Canterbury, nominated by his friend king Henry II. But friction started between king & church. In 29/12/1170,king's Knights killed Thomas. In short period he was raised to alters.
In recent past, St John Paul II ,took stern action, against priests who were involved in politics & holding office in Governments: ex Jesuit father Earnesto Cardenal/1983.
Trouble follows when church &state are blended together,ie when clergy holds public office:'no servant can serve 2 masters,either he will hate one & love the other,or else he will be devoted to one &despise other'(luke16:13).
C. To days readings:
Isaiah says( Is 53:10-11);"..Lord..pleased..
Hebrew says(Heb 4:14-16)"..Jesus..gone..
Mk(10:35-45) says"..James..John..approach Jesus..allow us to sit one at right hand..you donot know..asking..Jesus..cup..I..
Reminds: God as father; showed us to follow 10 commandments; God as Son, showed us, how to treat our fears and worries-HE showed all possible ways of temptations+sufferings encountered in our life. God as Holy spirit, showed us through the church, how we proceed with life problems encountered day to day. Holy Spirit will lead all humans towards end of world, how to resolve life problems stemming from paradigm changes due to technological advancement. Today, reflections are going beyond the commandments, to show general weakness, that can arise when you are close to God. You forget HIM.(You tend to assume, God will follow you.(Because you are doing so much to Him.)
Holy Mary is the ideal women who showed us how to live according to the God's Will, avoiding 7 vices(anger,sloth,Pride,envy,
Conclusions:
When you serve people,forgetting God,you expect their recognition and a place in society. Worldly society is heirachical, where as spiritual is flat orgernisation with only one head God. There are no bosses in between.
Pride, is the silence killer of Missionary action. When you are close to God, without your knowledge pride develops. Unless you are careful enough to curb that, you are deprived to carry God's word!
1884/Baltimore Church decided not to identify interest of faith with fortunes of politics".when you serve God,you can easily become servant of others &love them!
GBU
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