Every Drop in the Chalice

~~~ Jeremiah 18:18-20 ~~~ Psalm 31 ~~~ Matthew 20:17-28 ~~~ 

“You do not know what you are asking.

Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”

Jesus barely gets the words out of his mouth

before this intense mother is asking for favors for her sons.

The revelation of how Jesus will suffer and die

does not deter this woman.

Perhaps she was not hearing the words of Jesus.

...mocked and scourged and crucified...

What mother would want this to be in the future of her child?

The chalice is the concrete visual of how
Jesus gained our salvation.

The chalice of wine, transformed
 from water at the wedding feast of Cana,
now becomes the blood of the Redeemer.

 ...the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve

and to give his life as a ransom for many.

In the chalice every drop of blood is poured out for us.
We may understand what it means to serve others,
but most of us have no idea what it means to serve
 with every drop of your own blood.

We respond to the call from the Red Cross
 to give blood...the gift of life.
This is a wonderful act of service.

Giving our blood for another does not result
in the giver compromising their own life.

Today at Mass during the consecration
as the chalice was lifted
right behind appearing to
come out of the chalice was the flame from a candle.

It made me think about how one swallow of wine
makes you feel warm inside.

Taking Jesus into your heart
can also be a heartwarming experience.

The ten apostles bickered among themselves over favoritism,
but they too missed the bigger picture.

They missed the deeper meaning of the chalice.
The chalice holds the ultimate example of service.
Ultimate because it is the life of Jesus...his blood
shed for us. There is no greater love. 

He Blesses us with every drop of blood
poured out into the chalice.

The flame above the chalice this morning
is a reminder of how much Jesus loves me...
how he gave his life in service of all of us.

~~~Peace~~~
Let this Lenten journey be the best ever.

To Serve with Love

~~~ 1 Peter 1:18-25 ~~~ Psalm 14 ~~~ Mark 10: 32-45 ~~~

"...the word of the Lord remains forever."

"...love one another intensely from a pure heart."

Through the death and Resurrection of Jesus,

 we have come to place our faith and hope in God.

The tenth chapter of Mark continues to reveal to us just how naive and human the apostles were. They mirror who we are in many ways.

You tend to have unreasonable expectations when you do not have all of the facts or you simply do not understand.

James and John were so eager to be close to the Lord. They mistakenly believed that they were capable of more than they could have imagined.

Jesus wisely response to them, "You do not know what you are asking."

Jesus was reflecting at a much deeper level than James and John could understand.

They did not grasp that Jesus was acting on behalf of the Father.

Jesus offers them an analogy they could understand; that of the authority of a ruler who is controlling over all.

Instead Jesus flips this pyramid of power upside down.

"For the Son of Man did not come to be served

but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many."

Jesus came to serve. He made this very clear at the Last Supper when he knelt at the feet of each of his apostles and washed their feet.

Can you imagine Jesus kneeling at your feet today?

It is difficult to even let your imagination place you in such a scene.

We are surrounded with those who have a servant's heart every day. They are in our families, our churches, our hospitals, our homeless shelters, our crisis call centers, our military, our schools, in our restaurants. And I am sure you could continue the list with many more examples. In order to serve you need to put the needs of others above your own needs.

While we may never be able to simulate the great service of our Lord we can serve with a pure heart. We can serve out of love and not expect recognition for our service.

We are all called to serve in one way or another.

Today I invite you to take a look at how you serve.

I invite you to examine how your service is aligned

with the call to serve from Jesus.

Only you can answer the question of 'why' you serve.

"...the word of the Lord remains forever."

Service from the heart is love.