As we are in the first days of our Lenten journey, we hear a Gospel message today in which Jesus foretells his destiny. He know that he is going to suffer greatly, that he is going to be rejected by the Jewish authorities, that he will die and then be raised from the dead. We can imagine that Christ’s followers were perplexed when they first heard this message, that they couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. Raised from the dead? What exactly would that mean? We are raised in a society where so many look after themselves before anything else, being ruthless and cut throat in getting ahead and rising to the top. Christ’s message of service and servanthood is so against a lot of the ways of our world. Mother Teresa was uncompromising and tenacious in the way she approached her life as a religious sister, but humility, simplicity and sacrifice also characterized her work. Just as Jesus preached servanthood not only in his words but in his style of life as well, Mother Teresa presents us a model of servanthood through her life and service as well. Rather than preaching a message of power, influence, and prestige, Mother Teresa calls all of us to service with this simple message: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” The message from both Jesus and Mother Teresa is that a life spent focused only on ourselves and our self-advancement and our own self-interest will ultimately lead to self-destruction and disappointment. Indeed, we gain our life only when we lose it.
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