Posted by The WORD in other words (2023) by Fr Jun Javines SVD — Divine Word College of San Jose
Tuesday 2nd Week of Lent
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
A prevailing theme of the Gospel today is the value of humility. Jesus’ preaching underscores the unacceptable behavior of people entrusted with authority but who are driven by greed. Worse, they are deranged by insecurity, thus clinging to their temporal power to the extent of feeling highly entitled and therefore oppressive.
This reminds me of an affluent family who once invited selected guests to a “birthday” party. Having been requested to lead the short prayer service, I found myself mixed with the so-called rich and famous. What baffles me though was that the “birthday celebrator” was not around, or I thought so.
Prayer service was over, but the person celebrating his or her birthday was anybody’s guess. Then the whole family ushered everybody to a private room with one member carrying a huge birthday cake and to everybody’s surprise – there in her bed was the person celebrating her birthday.
Then the head of the family introduced the birthday celebrator to all the guests, “This is our nanny who took care of us, our children, and grandchildren. We have been taking care of her since she got sick, and today we honor her not only because it is her birthday but much more because she dedicated her entire life to taking care of all of us.”
It was an honor to witness an event where a very affluent family honored a humble and unassuming person.They opted to recognize a person’s contribution outside their so-called elite circle. Rare it was. Nobody left that party without a tear in his or her eyes and, more so, humbled.
