Gospel reflections – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
17 October 2021
Mark 10: 35-45
“For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.”
FEELING GOOD IN DOING GOOD
When I was in Grade School, I had a very smart, kind and pretty teacher, Mrs De los Santos. How can she not be my favourite teacher? And more so because I felt I was her favourite pupil too. She once told me, “You know Mon, of all my pupils, you are my favourite.” Wow, that made me feel so happy and honoured. Even after grade school graduation, we remained in touch.
I remember, I was already a grown-up seminarian then when she invited me to visit her in her home in Cavite. There I saw that she loves animals a lot. Inside and outside her comely house, she was keeping a lot of pets… dogs, cats, birds, fish. She even had a monkey in her backyard. She then told me, “You know Mon, of all my pets, this monkey is my favourite.” When I heard her say that, I recalled what she told me when I was young. Then I asked myself, “Is that why I am her favourite student?” Up to now… I choose to never answer that question.
Kidding aside… it’s good to ask…
Have you had any favourites too?
Have you been a favourite of someone too?
Do you sometimes feel the desire to be somebody’s favourite?
There is this girl, she feels so happy coz she feels she’s Daddy’s favourite. “Yeah, I’m Daddy’s favourite child. He loves me most. He gives me lots of barbie dolls. All my siblings never received any from him.” Oh, by the way, all her siblings are boys.
“I’m sad. I feel like a loser. I’m not mommy’s favourite. When will I ever be? My elder sister is. She made mommy so proud whenever she would bring home medals from school. I have never brought home any medal from school… although I remember bringing home a ‘blackeye’ from a fight I had in school.”
Do you sometimes say “I need to study harder. I’ll make this project perfect. I want to win teacher’s highest praises.”?
Or “I hate my boss. Even if I work so hard, I even do overtime for no pay, he pays no attention to me, never appreciates me, never even greets me. He only gives praises to his favourite, that cutie-cutie feeling charming goody-goody colleague of mine, grrrr! But in fairness, she is actually really cute, charming and good. But still, why can it not be me? Why can it not be me too? Why not me more?”
Do you sometimes have that feeling of “I want to be better than others. I need to be. If I am not, then that’s just so sad. In this highly competitive world, I got to be higher than them all, I got to be honoured for more. If not, how can I be happy and well, really?”
Do these questions and thoughts enter your mind? Sometimes?
If yes, relax. I think a lot of people, if not all of us people, do… sometimes, at least. It’s normal to. To want to be higher, better, honoured more, appreciated a lot — it is normal to want such.
Today’s Gospel story is an example of such. Even St John and St James felt that way. Even Jesus’ disciples felt that way too. You see, it’s really normal for us people to have that desire to be higher than others, to be honoured more.
Today’s Gospel tells us this though — Yes, that’s normal; but that is not nice. That won’t do you good. That won’t do good to others too. Happiness from such… naaah! Harm and hurts from such, to you and to others too… yaaah!
Jesus who loves us, who wants what’s best for us, reminds us that happiness, holiness, fullness of life, salvation, these we experience through serving, doing good, caring, not through comparing or competing or wanting to be ahead of the rest.
Compassion, not competition. Caring, not comparing. To serve, not to subdue.
If your attitude is to compete… “I must make it to the top; it must be me, not them.”
If you always compare yourself with others… “Oh, why is her phone more smarty than mine; why is her husband more seemly than mine; why is her looks more sassy than mine?”
If consciously or unconsciously you’re out there to subdue… “I don’t want to just win the championship; I’ve got to be the MVP.”
Isn’t this kind of thinking, of living, of relating… very stressful, and tiring, and depressing?
What Jesus, in today’s Gospel, offers us is a life of compassion, of care, of service… thus, a life of gladness, of gratitude, of serenity… just as how he lived his.
His words to us, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”, he has translated into his life with us, into his sacrifice for us. He practiced what he preached. He walked his talk. And he invites us to practice the same, to walk the same path… surely the path to life, life in its fullness.
Just serve, care, be kind, do good…. No need to seek for honour. No need to want appreciation. No need to expect thanks. No need to desire to be better, holier, greater than the rest. THOUGH IT’S NORMAL TO, IT’S NOT NICE TO. AND BESIDES, THERE’S NO NEED TO. JUST DO GOOD… period.
Oh… and one more thing… a very important thing…
When you do good (BUAT BAIK), pleeeease, do feel good (BERASA BAIK). Feel good when you do good… always (BUAT BAIK, BERASA BAIK… SELALU SENTIASA).
It doesn’t matter if it’s a small good or a huge good. Since what you do is good, then feel good. You have all the right and reason to. Every time you care, every time you do an act of kindness, every time you serve, every time you do good, please…feel good. BB BB SS.
Sometimes, the problem is not that there are no more people doing good. No, a lot do. But some of these people do not feel good even if they have done something good.
One fellow told a priest, “Father, I’m sad and worried.”
“Why?”
“Because a relative of mine needed money for the hospitalisation of his very sick wife, and I lent him a large sum. I feel worried coz he might not be able to pay me.”
Ok, that’s a reason to worry. But should you not feel very happy too for being a big help to him and his very sick wife at that time when they needed someone so?
This month of October, I see a good number of Catholics who every evening, go out and drink beer… oops, sorry, I know it’s Octobeerfest, but what I wanted to say is, they go out house to house and pray the rosary. Wooow, isn’t that inspiring? How many of you do that too? And honestly, do you feel good praying the rosary?
“Mmm, yah, father. Sometimes, at least. But sometimes, not really. Feels ordinary. Feels tired and sleepy and lazy too at times…. ‘Hail Mary, full of grace…. Hail Mary, full… Hail…. Zzzzzzz… Zzzzz…’”
You who pray the rosary, especially you who do so daily… you’re doing something awesome! Feel awesome about it! It’s not easy to complete the rosary, and to pray it often, and here you are able to… wooow! When you pray the rosary, probably, you not only pray for yourself and your wishes, not only for your family and dears and their needs. You also pray for others, the poor, the suffering, the sick, the souls of the departed… wooow! That’s so kind and pious of you, right? Then feel good about it. Praise yourself for it. Congratulate yourself every time you do so. Who knows, maybe tonight, as you’re lying on your bed dozing off to sleep, you would feel the cool and deep voices of the souls in purgatory whom you prayed for telling you, “Thaaank yooou! Goood jooob! Tomorroooow again pleeeease!” Isn’t that awesome?
“Father, I love her and she loves me so. But I just broke up with her and I mean to really end it… ‘coz I love my family more. I’m hurting father. I miss her and our sweet memories. I’m dreary father….”
Yah, must be so painful and never smooth and simple. But wooow… you just did a huge good. I hope deep inside you feel proud of yourself for you just did a very noble deed. Not an easy decision to make, but definitely an excellent one. In time… hopefully soon… please feel good.
“I go to Mass and even serve in Church. But instead of prayers answered and praises heard, what I get are criticisms and gossips. Haaaay…. Praying and serving — should I stop doing these good things only because instead of blessings and affirmation, what I receive in return is nothing… nothing? Should I?”
If by doing good, we receive something good… thank you! If not… if by doing good we receive nothing good or nothing at all… it’s OK! Let us still keep doing the good we do anyway. The joy of simply doing something good is ours to feel along the way. It will come. Let it come.
Remember… BB BB SS… Buat Baik, Berasa Baik… Selalu Sentiasa. When you do good, feel good, always!
A question for reflection…
Is there something good that you have done or that you still do… that still doesn’t make you feel good… really? Don’t you think it is high time to?
For doing something good, big or small, big and small… always feel good. It’s about time to always do.
PS…
You know what’s worse than not feeling good for doing something good? It is feeling good for doing something bad…. That’s waaay too bad. Oh yes, this is so bad… but definitely not hopeless.
Fr Ramon Borja, SDB
Commission for Youth
