+(Intro) We have the feast of St James, a day to remember our bro Christopher on his anniversary and our Fr James Conner who passed to eternal life this past year. We will hear in our first reading of how we hold our “treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.” So let us be mindful of our sinfulness so that God’s mercy and love may fill us.
(After the gospel) One cannot help but admire the mother of James and John, for asking that her sons sit one at the right, the other at the left of Jesus in the Kingdom. Jesus responds with a simple question, something he asks of all of his disciples, “can your drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”
What does is mean today to drink the chalice that Jesus was going to drink? Is it not simply being true to our Christian faith in the daily circumstances of our lives. For monks it may be simply going to recite or sing the Divine Office, doing any work assigned to us. Often it is simply living in the obscurity of our daily lives, accepting the weaknesses of our brothers.
It is true for us all that if we really want to be great, it is to be the servant of those with whom we live. Jesus goes so far as to say that we are to be one another’s slaves. May this Eucharist fill us with such a love, with such a willingness to serve our brothers and sisters.
2 Cor 4:7-15; Matt 20:20-28