Today, we hear the famous saying: “Many who were first will be last, and the last will be first”. There was a lovely lady at St Richard who used to drive all of the way from the Carthage area to attend the mass at St Richard in Jackson every Sunday morning at 8:00 am. She would arrive in last row of pews in the church at least half an hour before mass to pray and to prepare. She told me that Father Ben Martinez used to often jokingly quote this Scripture passage to her before mass, telling her that the first would be last, and the last would be first, since she was all the way in the last pew in the church without fail.
We live in a society today where everyone wants to be number one in the world. I read an article about eduction today that stated that the average high school issues about three times the number of A’s as grades to students compared to a generation ago. Everyone wants to be the best, and wants the best in life. There is nothing wrong in wanting to be the best, but not everyone can be number 1. Jesus tells us that we need to make sacrifices, and that those sacrifices will be noticed by the Lord. May we not be afraid to make sacrifices for our faith, may we put our faith in the ways of the Lord and not in the accolades of the world. It goes against out desire to be number one, but it will help us to gain grace and wisdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment