How interesting that our second reading this Sunday is from St. James who exhorts us to put off “selfish ambition” and instead “cultivate peace” (3:16-18). The Gospel passage shows Jesus’s disciples arguing about who was the greatest (Mark 9:34). Later in Mark, James and John ask to be the greatest in the kingdom by sitting at Jesus’s right and left hand (10:35-37). They are still hustling to get a spot at the top!
St. James learned from Jesus that selfish ambition and self-aggrandizing are ways to gain power in this world, not the next. This shows how most saints are not born perfect, but like everyday people, they grow over time into the people God created them to be. Through failures and triumphs, overcoming sins and by growing in charity, they became holy. This gives me so much hope for the times when I fail to be the “best-version-of-myself,” as Matthew Kelly says.
That brings up the idea of the call to universal holiness that the Second Vatican Council emphasized. Lumen Gentium was the central document of Vatican II. It states, “Therefore, all the faithful of Christ are invited to strive for the holiness and perfection of their own proper state. Indeed they have an obligation to so strive” (LG #42).
I am empowered by this invitation to live a holy life; holiness is not limited to priests and nuns, but extends to each one of us as baptized members of the Church. With God as our Father, Christ as our head, the Holy Spirit poured out to us as our sanctifier, and Mary as our Blessed Mother, we are each called to be holy, no matter what our state in life.
If you have ten minutes, Chapter 5 of Lumen Gentium has encouraging thoughts about sanctity that can be found in every state of life: religious, married, widowed, or single. Here is a link to this important Church document: Lumen Gentium.
Lord Jesus, divine Teacher and Model of all perfection (LG #40), help me to imitate You and Your Blessed Mother as I strive to live a holy life each and every day.
Mass Readings for September 19, 2021: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 2, 17-20
Psalm 54:3-8
James 3:16-4:3
Mark 9:30-37
“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” 2 Timothy 1:9
Chartres Cathedral, North Rose Window; Photo by Eusebius (Guillaume Piolle); Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
