GOSPEL
Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man
will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Mark 10:32-45
The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem,
and Jesus went ahead of them.
They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.
Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them
what was going to happen to him.
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man
will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death
and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him,
spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death,
but after three days he will rise.”
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
came to Jesus and said to him,
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?”
They answered him,
“Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
They said to him, “We can.”
Jesus said to them, “The chalice that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them,
“You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Misunderstood but faithful.
This is how the quintessential Spouse acts, giving His life as a ransom for many. It was clear that Jesus was not being understood by His disciples, as He spoke of being ridiculed and killed while His friends were concerned with securing the best positions. They were self-centered and driven by the typical inner tyranny of worldly leaders. But Jesus was not disturbed by this, nor did their response change His determination to give Himself for them and many more, in faithfulness to the Father’s will and out of love for them. May the misunderstandings of our spouse not separate us from our vocation to total self-giving like His.
Applied to Married Life:
Inés: I don’t feel understood by my husband at all, and that makes me protect myself from him.
Paco: No Inés, that is not the way. On one hand, precisely to know and understand yourself, you need to surrender to your husband. And secondly, precisely for your husband to know you and purify his gaze towards you, the best thing you can do is to surrender to him.
Inés: It’s a big sacrifice of my emotions, but I understand it. I understand that in my surrender despite the circumstances, true love is found. Thank you for helping me to love in the name of the Lord.
Mother,
Nothing and no one stopped you from giving yourself completely and with all its consequences. We also offer our surrender. Thank you, Mother.