My sisters and brothers in Christ,
“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” – From today’s Gospel.
The more we come to know Jesus the more we know that if we want to follow Him we must accept all the sufferings that come on this way. Even if we live in Christian communities we will still suffer. Suffering is part of our human condition. There are no people on earth who live only in happiness without suffering. It doesn’t matter, rich or poor, children and adults, suffering is just a normal part of our earthly life, even for followers of Jesus Christ.
Saint James in his letter shows us the reasons for suffering: jealousy, selfish ambition, infidelity, dishonesty, wars, and conflicts. These negative qualities and others like them are found in all of us from time to time. Sometimes we suffer from the effects of bad example, from the sins of others and from difficult things that have passed in our lives. We also have the effects of all of the bad choices that we have made, some of them sinful and some not.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Redemption in Jesus Christ gives us power to live in another way. It is not always a complete healing of all that is in us which is negative or of sin but is a start on the path to complete healing. Believing in Jesus Christ does not immediately make us perfect human beings. The graces of Baptism and the other Sacraments begin to change us.
The more we cooperate with the grace of God, the more God can transform us. We are invited to become like little children and to live in the Lord with total confidence and trust. Jesus said to the Apostle in today’s Gospel:
“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.†Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.â€
This Sunday we can pray that we be able to know the will of God in our lives, that we have the power of the Holy Spirit to fight against all that is negative in us and within us and that we can love all those who may set themselves against us.