Christ Our Light Catholic Church - Loudonville, NY

From Ann McCauley

We seem to have a natural tendency to want to be king of the hill. We want to know that we are doing better than others around us. It is a sign of success. In today’s Gospel, James and John want to get ahead. They would like to have better positions in the Kingdom of God than everyone else. To sit at the leader’s right and left hand meant that everyone would know they were important.

But Jesus has a different plan. He knows that there is only one at the top in the Kingdom of God – His Father. Jesus lived in service and obedience to the Father. Jesus is trying to teach us to do the same. We are not supposed to be scrambling for the top so we can be king of the hill. To be a disciple means to live a life of service and humility.

Jesus showed us the leadership style known as “servant leadership”. The ten traits of servant leaders are empathy, listening, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. If you think about these traits, you will be able to think of many ways Jesus showed them to us.

Try using this humility prayer, which asks God for the grace to let go of our need to be admired and the center of attention. It is hard to put God first when we are focused on ourselves. So this prayer asks for God to help us get rid of the self-centeredness which gets in the way of discipleship.

God, I am far too often influenced by what others think of me.
I am always pretending to be either richer or smarter or nicer than I really am.
Please prevent me from trying to attract attention.
Don’t let me gloat over praise on one hand or be discouraged by criticism on the other.
Nor let me waste time weaving imaginary situations in which the most heroic, charming, witty person present is myself.
Show me how to be humble of heart, like you.
Amen.