praise be jesus and mary
a couple of days the olympics are going to start and you can bet that each olympian has in his heart
a great desire for glory desire to stand on the pedestal to receive the gold medal
but we see in today's gospel that this desire for glory is also in the hearts of james and john and
also their mother our lord said to the apostles that they would sit on 12 thrones and judge
the 12 tribes of israel well james and john are thinking that's not enough we want the right
and the clean and the right of the boys and queens
we want the right and the clean and the clean and the clean and the clean and the clean and the
the left position. You see this desire for glory, desire for excellence. It's really, we can say,
part of our human nature. We already see with Adam and Eve the temptation that the devil
gives toward them. He says to Eve, you will be like gods. You will be like gods. He's
touching upon a certain truth, a part of their nature, because it is, in fact, our destiny
to be like God. Okay, this is God's plan for each and every one of us, and so it's natural
that we find this desire in our hearts, a desire for infinite greatness and glory and all of that.
We want to be like God, and God wants us to be like God.
We want to be like him, but we need to arrive at that greatness and glory according to the plan of God.
And so what was the plan of God for St. James, who we celebrate today, and St. John?
Our Lord lays down the conditions. He says, can you drink the chalice that I will drink?
Okay, so here's a condition. They say we can.
And our Lord says, you will indeed drink that chalice. For St. James, it was the red martyrdom
of spilling his blood. For St. John, the white martyrdom of a long life of heroic virtue.
Then our Lord says, you want to be great? You must become like servants, because greatness and glory
does not consist of being like God. You must become like God. You must become like God. You must become like God.
You must become like God. You must become like God. You must become like God. You must become like God.
You must become like God. You must become like God. You must become like God.
But in being servants, in humility, and in charity, our Lord is saying that greatness
consists in virtue. Whoever is more virtuous is greater. And so we need to remember this
for our own lives. Okay?
our Lord says to each and every one of us, can you drink the chalice that I will give you?
For us, practically speaking, that means accepting the purifications, the active purifications that
we must do by living a life of Christian mortification, but also the passive purifications
that God sends us to purify our souls of self-love and pride. We need to be willing to
become servants and to live lives of humble service and of great charity.
So let's entrust ourselves today to the intercession of St. James, that he will
instill in us this pure desire
for holiness and also dispose us to drink the chalice that our Lord gives us
and to be humble servants. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.