From Selfishness to Selflessness
Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Glorious Cross. As Sister Margaret pointed out in her corner last week, this Feast begins the final season in our Liturgical calendar and lasts for seven weeks. During this week with all that was going on in society, politics and even at the parish level, I couldn’t help but reflect on two distinct (but similar in essence) homilies that were delivered during the 9.30am family Mass by Father Yuhanna Azize and during the 11am Mass by Father Youwakim Njeim.
Fr Yuhanna spoke about selfishness and how this destroys our relationship with God and others. He gave some very good examples about how we are selfish through greed, gluttony and time to name a few. Fr Yuhanna also gave an example of a priest who is hard at work in his office doing something important that he enjoys doing however is urgently requested to attend to the hospital to visit someone who is ill. How would you respond in this situation?
On the other hand Fr Youwakim reflected on the selfless act of our Lord who suffered a brutal and humiliating death on the cross on account of the selfishness of humanity. Fr Youwakim focussed on carrying the cross and asked all those who think that they are carrying the cross, if truly they are. He gave an example of a man who wanted to experience what Jesus did and decided to carry a 100kg cross all around Parramatta. After he did this, the man came home and his mother asked him to do something for her. He replied, “I have been carrying a 100kg cross all day, can’t you see that I am exhausted,” and he refused his mother’s request.
Does this sound familiar?
Carrying the Cross does not always mean the pain of the body and great suffering. Rather it is an invitation for me to put my own life plan into God’s plan. God’s plan is simple! It is the giving of one’s self to the other or as Jesus put it: “the greatest love is to lay down one’s life for a friend.” This is what the cross signifies. It epitomizes selfless love! Jesus tells us, “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” To love our life in this world is to love as the world loves, which is selfishly.
To hate our life in this world is to reject this selfishness and to embrace selfless love.
In this blessed season let us look inwards at our own lives and see how we can truly be examples of the selfless love that our Lord showed us through the cross. I look forward to seeing you around the parish during the week.
