Father Bob Kus is one of six priests who were ordained along with me. Father Bob was in his fifties when he was ordained and has now been retired for six years but he did not really stop working. Instead, he moved to a remote village in Honduras where he actively helps in the parish. He was allowed there to build his house next to the rectory. Father Bob built a complex of four suites, one for himself and the other three for people, mainly acquaintances of his, who would like to go and have short retreats. Each suite has the name of a recent martyr from Central America, for example, Saint Oscar Romero.

Speaking with him recently about the situation of the Church in that part of the world, Father Bob told me that the persecution of the Church in Nicaragua is different from that in El Salvador 50 years ago. At that time, bishops and priests were being murdered. The Nicaraguan government today does not do that, it simply expels them from the country, perhaps with the intention of not producing martyrs because their blood strengthens the cause for justice and truth.

Today’s first reading is taken from the Book of Wisdom. It begins by saying, “The wicked say, ‘Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings’” (Wisdom 2:12). The reading concludes, “Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his words, God will take care of him” (Wisdom 2:20). The sacred author teaches about the challenges faced by those who seek justice and truth. The reason why today's Gospel reading is paired with this reading from the book of Wisdom is precisely because the Lord is the just one that Wisdom describes. In the Gospel, the Lord announces his passion and death for the second time, which demonstrate the truth that the book of Wisdom taught.

The context of today's Gospel reading is the journey that the Lord makes through Galilee on the way to Jerusalem. Saint Mark speaks of the “way”, indicating precisely the Lord’s path to the crucifixion. The Lord had only a few weeks left before his passion and death and he wanted to use them to reinforce his teachings to his disciples. For the second time the Lord speaks to them of his imminent passion and death. The Lord wanted to teach them one of the most important teachings of Christianity, namely, that being someone sent by God means being someone persecuted by the enemies of goodness, justice and truth. And that accepting this sacrifice without turning back is the greatest sign of love.

The disciples did not understand initially what the Lord wanted to teach them. Both times he announced his passion, they did not respond with understanding. On the first occasion, Saint Peter had the audacity of rebuking the Lord and told him to stop thinking like that. On this second occasion, the conversation that followed among the disciples on the way could not have been more contrary to what the Lord was trying to teach them. They discussed who was the greatest. 

Saint Mark records the events this way to let us see ourselves in the disciples. Saint Mark allows us to come face-to-face with the human tendencies to seek our own glory in competition with others. The truth is that these tendencies hinder us from yielding ourselves to God’s marvelous plan.

The Church, us included, who are the Lord's disciples of today, are walking the Christian way through this world in the direction of the New Jerusalem. The Lord's teachings are the same yesterday and today. The Lord wants us to respond to his teachings on self-sacrifice in an appropriate way. The Lord invites us to leave the worldly way of thinking and begin to see life as the Lord sees it. We cannot lose sight of the cross. The temptations of power and glory will always be in front of us, hindering us from yielding ourselves to God’s plan. The Lord invites us not to let ourselves be blinded by them.

Let us humbly ask the Lord to give us the grace to set aside our desires for our own glory and instead fully embrace his mysterious and yet wonderful plan for us.