Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 20, 2019
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem,
he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves,
and said to them on the way,
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day.”
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her, “What do you wish?”
She answered him,
“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”
Jesus said in reply,
“You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”
They said to him, “We can.”
He replied,
“My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left,
this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.
But Jesus summoned them and said,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
After working as a public servant in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government for four years, I have seen firsthand the pitfalls and temptations accompanying positions of influence. In theory, public service attracts selfless individuals compelled by the love of their country to serve their fellow citizens. In practice, however, public servants often behave in ways that emphasize and inflate their worldly power, titles, and egos—even to the detriment of the people they were entrusted to serve. I worry that my involvement with Washington D.C. culture, which emphasizes superficiality and individual achievement, has corrupted my original intention in pursuing a political career: to serve others.
Despite their intimate personal relationship with Jesus, the Apostles were not immune to worldly ambitions. In this passage, Jesus humbly explains his impending death to his disciples. Yet, immediately afterward, James, John, and their mother approach Jesus seeking worldly status and power. Jesus’ mission uproots the accepted order of power. Declaring great leaders do not use their authority to lord over their people, Jesus says:
“Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.”
Jesus was not a proud king. He didn’t overthrow Roman conquerors or establish a dynasty on earth. He was “mocked and scourged and crucified” alongside common criminals. Yet, Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins is the most powerful example of service—and leadership—in human history. The true greatness of these actions rests on the foundation of true humility: submission to God and service to others, rather than individual egotism and pride accompanying control and triumph.
In the words of the Litany of Humility, we pray:
“That in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.”
Prayer
The life of your followers is one of service and self-sacrifice, a life like yours, Lord. Though you must have trembled before the betrayal, condemnation and suffering ahead, you did not turn away. No, you continued up to Jerusalem out of love for us.
Fill us with your love and your strength, O God, so that we might be the servant of our sisters and brothers and thus imitate your great gift of love. Amen.
Saint of the Day
María Josefa was born in 1842, the eldest daughter of a large Spanish Catholic family. Her father died at a young age, leaving her mother responsible for the family well-being. María was sent to Madrid to live with wealthy relatives while receiving an education.
María's mother was religious and had trained her young daughter in the Catholic faith, but was surprised to find María return from Madrid at the age of eighteen insisting on joining a convent. María felt on fire for a religious vocation and kept begging her mother for permission to enter. María joined the Institute of the Servants of Mary, but soon felt uncertain about whether she had chosen the right path. After speaking with various confessors and praying with her uncertainty, she left the Institute.
María had felt the call to establish her own order.
In 1871, at the age of twenty-nine, María Josefa founded the Servants of Jesus of Charity, that focused on caring for Christ in the least of his people—the children, sick, elderly, and the poor. When she became the order's first superior she took the name María Josefa of the Heart of Jesus. Her order has spread all over the European and Spanish-speaking world—today, the Servants of Jesus of Charity have houses in Chile, Colombia, France and the Dominican Republic.
María Josefa was devoted to the Sacred Heart, and saw her and her sisters' work with the sick and suffering as participating in Christ's redemptive sufferings. And this kindness they offered to others was a foretaste of heaven. She wrote to her sisters:
“The charity and mutual love constitute even in this life the paradise of the community. Without cross we cannot live wherever we go, because the religious life is a life of sacrifice and of abnegation. The foundation of greatest perfection is the fraternal charity."
On March 20, 1912, María Josefa passed away, just short of seventy years old. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in the Jubilee Year of 2000, on October 1.
St. María Josefa Sancho de Guerra, founder of the Servants of Jesus of Charity—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. St. María Josefa Sancho de Guerra is in the public domain. Last accessed February 6, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
