There is something almost humorous in today’s Gospel pericope. The story has come down to us in two versions. Both place this incident right after Jesus predicted His passion and death for the third time. St. Matthew’s original version pictures Salome, mother of James and John, making the request. Here, St. Mark edits Mom out entirely, and has James and John doing it in tandem. “Master, can we ask you to do something for us?” “ What is it?” And the request is that when Jesus is on His throne as Messiah, they would be His right-hand men. Now the humor for Mark’s audience, and us, is that we know the throne of Jesus will be a rude cross, an instrument of torture, death, and—of course—our salvation. James and John have heard from Jesus what is going to happen, but it appears they didn’t come to terms with that. But they answered in the affirmative when Jesus asked if they could drink the same cup as Jesus. Then (we’ve come to expect this) the other apostles jumped on the brothers’ “case” and Jesus rebuked them with His call to accept pain as part of servant-leadership.
Jesus’s ministry was all about giving, and giving, and giving some more. Isaiah prophesied it, and the letter to the Hebrews confirms it. We, too, are called to make the same gift to this world of confusion and selfishness. The call is to “hold fast to your confession” and come close to Jesus on His throne of mercy, to receive that mercy and grace for every need.
We are very close to the national elections, and what we all should do is pray for Christ’s mercy, but also a special grace. More on that momentarily.
If you have read my last four clergy corners, where I reviewed the bishops' document on our duty as Christians to vote from a well-formed conscience, you’ll recall that the four watch phrases are these: 1) Respect the sanctity of human life 2) Stewardship of creation 3) Pursuing the common good (and the principle of subsidiarity) 4) Solidarity, especially with the poor.
The bishops highlighted a special issue connected with all four: “The threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks our most vulnerable and voiceless brothers and sisters and destroys more than a million lives per year in our country alone.”
One of the two major parties has made abortion this voting cycle their preeminent priority. That is, they want to eliminate all laws protecting the life of preborn human babies and make taxpayers foot the bill. Nationwide, they propose no limits from conception to birth. You’ll note that this clearly offends both the sanctity of life and subsidiarity because it would remove the individual state’s ability to protect babies and their families from what is clearly an act of homicide.
Now you may say that the other major party has a watered-down defense of life in its platform, and the candidates at the head of the ticket support morally problematic procedures like IVF. Very well, research all of this and find a more morally acceptable ticket to vote for. There’s at least one with a position very close to perfect.
Now for the special grace for which to pray: whomever you support and vote for, pray that if a morally unacceptable result comes, God will give us the grace to bear up under the next four years and give Congress the backbone and leadership that will resist evil and promote the good.
Deacon Pat Cunningham (Ret)
