No Ambition, No Discord
25th Sunday Ordinary Time
“If someone wants to be first, let him be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Mark 9:30-37
There was once a small boy who met a beggar who sold him a booklet on martial arts for 10 dollars. The boy practiced everything on the booklet every day. One morning he saw a small girl being bullied by several big boys. Although he was smaller, he challenged the bigger boys to fight, hoping to use what he had been practicing. But he only got bullied himself. In fact the bullies were laughing at him because the booklet cost only 5 cents and he paid 10 dollars for it.
A child is weak and can be bullied. He is ignorant and can be easily fooled. And yet in today’s gospel Jesus wanted His apostles and us to be like children.
The twelve apostles had been quarrelling about who among them was the greatest. They proved true what James wrote in his letter today that ambition and jealousy causes evil discord and that craving promotes war. James 3:16-4:3.
Ambition can do worse by setting traps for the righteous and torturing him to test his patience and self-control. Wisdom 2:12.17-20.
To remove quarrel and fights then, one must rid oneself of ambition. To do so one must be like a child. Jesus reminded His apostles that whoever welcomes child welcomes Him and His Father who sent Him. In the end God will be on the side of him who is childlike.
Disclaimer: This section of the website is a personal creative writing of the author and does not necessarily reflect the official views, opinion, or policies of the Salesians of Don Bosco – Philippines South Province. For concerns on the content, style, and grammar of this piece, please contact us.
Disclaimer: This section of the website is a personal creative writing of the author and does not necessarily reflect the official views, opinion, or policies of the Salesians of Don Bosco – Philippines South Province. For concerns on the content, style, and grammar of this piece, please contact us.
