The greatest among you will be the servant of all. St. Vincent de Paul is a powerful example of sanctity based on the service of others especially the poor and needy. A very powerful way to grow in holiness is to check and counter the vices we find in our souls with actions and thoughts that are contrary. When we do not think or behave in accord with the Gospel, a zealous way to move forward is by counteracting ourselves. It may seem unnatural to move so quickly, but in the wisdom of God is it actually replacing what is wrong or selfish with what is good and natural in God’s perspective. Jesus does that in today’s Gospel: while His disciples are focused on prideful greatness, Jesus places an innocent child in their midst. He directly counteracts their pride.
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today, especially in America, we place tremendous value on passion. What are you passionate about? What subjects or activities captivate you the most? If you can find your passion and live according to it you will be happy: or so we think. There are even predominating theories of education and pedagogy where the secret to unlocking someone’s potential has to do with figuring out what they are passionate about. The problem with that approach is that some things are important whether you are passionate about them or not. The difficulties involved in becoming disciplined are dispensed with and we rely instead on motivation and the energy of passion. The garbage needs to be taken out whether you are passionate about it or not. You need to do your taxes correctly whether you are passionate about it or not. You need to wake up and go to work/school whether you are passionate about it or not. Discipleship, discipline and learning were synonymous until the modern age. Passion, drive, and ambition were considered vicious tendencies until the modern age. Are we really so much wiser today than those hundreds of generations who went before us?
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
It’s surprising to see how God responds to the complaints of the Israelites. We expect to receive sympathy when we complain. Instead, God sends a punishment on the Israelites when they complain. What exactly did the Israelites complain about? They were complaining about the miraculous food that God provided them: the mana. I think it’s pretty hard not to complain at all about anything ever, though I’m sure that’s a way to holiness. Perhaps one thing we can learn from this passage is to be careful when we start to complain – the Israelites were literally complaining about a miraculous gift from God because it wasn’t delicious. Anyone who has ever been really hungry knows that hunger pains can be solved by putting absolutely anything in your stomach. That is why, in places where there is quite literally not enough food, people will eat dirt just so they do not feel hungry. The Israelites are clearly not starving because they are complaining about how the food tastes. Rashi, a rabbinical commentator on this passage, states that the Israelites were lusting after fatty, heavy, meaty foods – the foods of their former slavery. God gave them the mana, a subtle, lighter fare, so that when eating it their minds might be clearer and their hearts lighter so as to rise to spiritual thoughts and contemplation, rather than focused inwardly on their stomachs. The Israelites are punished because when their needs were met sufficiently by a miraculous food, they did not respond in faith to seek spiritually the Lord of their hearts.