EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Wednesday

Year II

Readings

First Reading
1 Pt 1:18–25

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 147:12–13, 14–15, 19–20

Gospel
Mk 10:32–45

Meditation on Today’s Readings

Taken from the Vatican II Sunday and Weekday Missal
Written by Celia Sirois

In Mark’s Gospel, each prediction of the passion is followed by a dramatic example of the disciples’ failure to grasp what Jesus is telling them. Today’s selection is a case in point. Following the third prediction of his passion, the sons of Zebedee ask Jesus to give them places of honor when he comes into his glory. Jesus couches his answer in biblical imagery—the cup and the bath of pain. Both symbolize suffering and death, but James and John do not understand that. Neither do the other ten, who are indignant at the two brothers for trying to gain an edge on the rest of them. One more time Jesus must explain: “It shall not be so among you.”

In the failure of the disciples Mark holds up a mirror and invites us to see ourselves. Like James and John, how often do we make requests of Jesus without knowing what we are asking? “Give new signs and work new wonders,” we pray, unmindful of the cup and the bath of pain. How slow are we to realize that we were ransomed, “not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb”—?

The copyright for the Sunday Missal Introductions is:
Copyright (c) 2001, Daughters of St. Paul
The copyright for the Weekday Missal Introduction is:
Copyright (c) 2002, Daughters of St. Paul