A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Mark. The disciples were on the road going up to Jerusalem with Jesus walking in the lead. Their mood was one of wonderment. While that of those who followed was one of fear. Taking the 12 aside once again, Jesus began to tell them what was going to happen to him.
We are on our way up to Jerusalem, he said, where the son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, flog him, and finally, kill him. But three days later, he will rise. Zebedee's sons, James and John, approached Jesus. Teacher, they said, we want you to grant our request.
What is it? Jesus asked. They replied, see to it that we sit, one at your right hand and the other at your left when you come into your glory. Jesus said, don't know what you're asking for. Can you drink the cup I shall drink or be baptized in the same bath of pain as I?
We can, they said. Jesus said in response, from the cup I drink of, you also shall drink. The bath I am immersed in, you also shall share. But sitting at my right or my left is not mine to give. That is for those for whom it has been reserved.
Now the other 10, on hearing this, became indignant at James and John and Jesus then called them all together and said, you know how among the Gentiles, those who seem to exercise authority lord it over the others. Their great ones make their importance felt. It cannot be like that among you. Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest. Whoever wants to rank first among you must serve the needs of all.
The son of man has not come to be served but to serve, to give his life in ransom for the many. And this is the gospel. The good news of the lord. Praise to you lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen.
Somewhat over a week ago when our holy father was up in The Netherlands specifically in Utrecht. The bishop's conference there had prepared for his coming by having the youth, whoever they are, prepare a paper, which I would call a paper of grievances against the Catholic church. You know, things are not very settled up in The Netherlands. So this paper, after it had been edited by the bishops, was handed to our holy father, and he was supposed to respond to it. And, of course, there were thousands of these youth, whoever they are, there.
I like the way we use these words, you know. Now, the gist of their objection was this, that the the Catholic church is severe. Now when they're talking about the Catholic church, they're talking about the Catholic church lined up with Rome and the Holy Father. Keep that in mind. They're talking about the church which lines up with the council of Trent, and I suppose with the Vatican council too.
Their main grievance can be boiled down to this, that the Catholic church is severe. It lacks the joy of Christ's teaching. That word joy is in there all the time. I read this this I got this from the trans the official document in translation. My Dutch is about as good as my Arabic.
The holy father spoke Dutch when he went up there incidentally. Anyway, the the Catholic church is severe. It lacks joy. It should go out with gentleness and compassion to homosexuals. It should go out with joy and compassion and sympathy for adulterers.
It should go out with joy and and compassion to those who have been divorced and remarried and who have an abortion or two occasionally. The joy of our lord's message is missing from the holy Roman Catholic church. That's what our holy father was supposed to respond to. First of all now the first thing that strikes you this, these whoever these youths are, there's not the suggestion of evidence that this was the teaching of Christ, not the slightest evidence. It's all presumed.
It's all presumed. And this was the point the holy father took up. He dealt with it very delicately, very gently. He didn't come on to it head on. But the point is this, where do you get this nonsense?
Because it is nonsense. Did you notice that opening prayer? We pray for the joy, but notice the tense. Not present tense. It's for the future.
It's the joy that God has prepared for us in heaven. Where do these people get the idea that the church exists to make this a comfortable world? Where does that idea come from? I know it's popular. That's the whole thrust of liberation theology.
I know that. But where does it come from? From the either from the bible, from the tradition, or from the teaching of the Catholic church. Where do we get that? I'll tell you where we get it.
We get it from the secularists. We get it from the nineteenth century do gooders and the twentieth century do gooders. We get it from people who say this is the world we know. Let's make the best we can with this world so we have secularists. And if you want to put the word humanist before, it's alright with me.
Put anything you want. It is not Catholic doctrine in any sense of the word of being traditional. And if if you want to be a Catholic, the idea of being is being a Christian, and the idea of being a Christian is to follow Christ, and the idea of following Christ is to follow his truth. Truth. These young youth don't the word truth doesn't come into their to their paper of grievances.
That word isn't even mentioned. The church lacks joy. We should go out and embrace all men and and whoop it up, have a case of Scotch in everybody's doorstep every Sunday morning. Where does this come from? Where is the evidence in the New Testament that our Lord taught anything like?
Take for example. First of he said, I've come not to bring peace but the sword. I have come to bring division. He's told the young guy the oh, let's refer. The youth.
I love that word, youth. The youth comes to him and says, what do I have to do to be saved? Christ says, go out and keep the 10 commandments. The kid says, I've kept them all my life. No problem.
Christ says, then go and sell everything you have and come follow me. He turned back, couldn't take it because he had many possessions. Was that was he joyful? Was that young man joyful when he turned his back on Christ? Where's the joy?
The woman taken in adultery. Notice she was taken in adultery. No question about it. And Christ, as you know, says it, where are your accusers? He says they are not here.
Notice, the accusers Christ didn't see her committing adultery. He was not her accuser. He didn't see it. And so she says they're not here. So then Christ said, no, then neither do I condemn you.
He couldn't. But he says, go sin no more. Do you know what sinning no more means? Have you ever tried to sin no more when you've been attached to sin? It's fun and games, isn't it?
Oh, it's joyful. Is that oh, it's wonderful. You know, it's exuberant. It's nothing of the sort. We repeat in our lives the exodus.
We go out. We get we flee the enslavement of sin. I love these words. Because when we're sinning, we don't feel enslaved at all. We're enjoying it.
So we leave the flesh pots of Egypt, and we go into the desert. And what happened to those good people who went into the desert to escape the servitude of the Egyptians? They looked back and they accused Moses, what are you bringing us out here for? To die? Why didn't you leave us back there where at least we had food and drink and shelter.
They looked back to the flesh. Was that fun and games? Was the exit is fun and games? If that good lady, whoever she was or whatever the sin was, if she stopped sinning, was she enjoying every minute of it and singing Hallelujah, having joy? Well, there's no evidence for it.
Not at all. Not at all. When our blessed mother accepts to be the mother of god, the visitation, be it done unto me according to thy word. We have a text a little later when when she brings her newborn infant into the temple to present the first fruit of her womb, she is told, and a sword will pierce your heart. Fun and games, Where do we get this idea that being a Christian is going to be exuberantly tranquil, peaceful, joyful, and all?
I am not denying there is a peace, but it's a very different kind of peace than the world uses the word. It's the peace of Jesus Christ. As I say, if you wanna know what you're talking about when you say the peace of Jesus Christ, don't say peace, say salvation. And salvation is not of this world. Salvation is of your immortal eternity.
This is the heart of the problem. And yet, right in right in this country, these kids or whoever they were over in Utrecht, they were saying just what's being said here. Andrew Greeley's been saying it. Other people have been saying it. That the Catholic church is too severe.
We have to go out with love and embrace everybody. Bring them all in. And we do that. It's not Jesus Christ. He promised us joy, but it's the joy of our immortality.
It's the joy of heaven. In the name of the father, the son, and the spirit. Amen.