7 March 2023
Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
A little less than three weeks ago, we heard, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return,” the formula that reminds us of our eventual death and our limited time on this earth. Contemplating our mortality can help transform our perspective and our priorities in life. What will we do with a gift that is so fragile and so uncertain as life? A temptation which arrives in varying degrees of intensity is to fill our lives with seeking attention, honor, riches, and privilege. Who wouldn’t agree that respect, comfort, and attention are enticing attributes? But what makes them so attractive is precisely the fact that they seem to be scarce for a life that is bound to end sooner or later.
St. John Chrysostom said, “If you knew how quickly people would forget you after your death, you will not seek in your life to please anyone but God.” And what pleases God is humility and service, as Jesus tells us in today’s gospel. Christ does not enter our world to feed into a system of scarcity and exclusivity. His own example of humility and service are for us models to follow for they bring to our lives abundance and eternity.