Happy 16th Birthday Catherine Therese!!

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Although you'll never read this my sweet Catherine, I love you. 16 years ago you changed our life forever. All of your siblings have done this in their own way but you have done so in a very special way. You have made me more empathetic, compassionate, and much more prayerful. Your smile lights up the world around you and we are all blessed by it.  It's not easy living with a saint. You remind me of my weakness and limited time on this earth. You challenge me to go deeper within myself and find what the Lord is trying to teach me...usually patience. You are made in His image and likeness but He uses you so that I can see my own beauty, goodness, and shortcomings.  You struggle mightily against me with every bath, diaper change, and wardrobe change. I struggle mightily with Him against all the changes He wills in my life. You depend on me and your mom for even the simplest of things. You teach me to depend on Him for everything and not rely on my on strength. You teach me that I
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The Greatest

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Sunday September 24th - Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mark 9:30-37

This just seems like a really bad day in the life of the apostles. Not that any day could be all that bad hanging out with Jesus but this seems very base. I don't know if my interpretation of the Gospel is fitting with Catholic teaching but I am sure someone will let me know if it isn't.

Jesus reveals for the second time that He must suffer and die and then rise again. The apostles were troubled by this for they were still thinking as man thinks. They did not understand the resurrection so the reality didn't register. What did register, I think, was that Jesus wasn't going to be with them any more. Here, unlike other places, they are arguing over who was the greatest not who will be the greatest in the Kingdom. Older translations say they were arguing over who "should be the greatest."(Douay-Rheims)

My interpretation is that the disciples were arguing over who was going to be the leader once Jesus went through this suffering that He continues to mention. Their idea was more of an earthly group instead of a heavenly guided Church. Nonetheless, Jesus sets them straight, and His teaching applies, as we see in other instances, to both Heaven and Earth.

Lord Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on You. Never let me go after earthly glory or human praise. Give me the grace to only be concerned with Your will and Your opinion. Help me to entrust myself to Your love as my children entrust themselves to mine.

FROM THE SAINTS
"Aim at Heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." - C. S. Lewis

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