Let’s take to heart the challenge of that question: “What were you arguing about?”

It can be an occasion to think about our life in our various communities—in the family, at school, at work, within the church community—whatever. We can ask ourselves how we treat one another. Are we ready to welcome others, understand and accept them? Are we ready to share and to serve? How many times are we willing to forgive others? Do we help one another in our weaknesses or lapses of memory?

The gospel of Luke situates this dispute about who is the greatest in his scene of the Last Supper. Maybe the disciples had been shoving one another aside to get a position near Jesus at the table. Jesus says to them, “The greatest among you must behave as though he were the youngest, and the leader must be like the servant. Here I am among you as one who serves (Luke 22:24-27).” That immediately reminds us of what Jesus does at the Last Supper in John’s gospel. He washes the feet of his disciples, after which he asks, “Do you understand what I have done for you? If I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, so you should wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13: 12, 15).

As today’s Liturgy leaflet says on the front page: “The world’s wicked pattern of competitiveness and desire to control others challenges all of us.” Let’s look back at that second reading from the Letter of James (3:16-4:3). “Wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony and wicked things of every kind being done…” [Here we can think of all the nasty things and abuse found on SNS media today. Actually, the first reading today gave us an Old Testament example of bullying.] [Continuing with James:] “…whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure. It also makes for peace and is kindly and considerate. It is full of compassion and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it. Peacemakers, when they work for peace, sow the seeds which will bear fruit in holiness.”

[And a few lines later:] “Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Isn’t it precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You want something and you haven’t got it, so you are prepared to kill.” [We see this in what has happened in Ukraine and in threats of aggression against other people’s territories in various parts of the world.] “You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy, so you fight to get your way by force.” I think all these words tell us something not only about what is going on the world around us but also what is going on within ourselves.

We are all united “in the Lord.” The Lord has brought us together and keeps us together. “Where two or three gather in my name, I am there with them,” Jesus says (Mt 18:20). We are called to sustain and support one another. We are all fed on the same Bread of Life that Jesus continues to give us. But we seem to hear him say, “What are you arguing about?” So we reflect on our life with others and on how we treat one another. We should be striving to accept one another as fellow Christians, as fellow human beings. We can try to listen patiently and offer an encouraging word and a helping hand. We can try to “accept one another as Christ has accepted us” (Rom 15:7). That is our most basic form of witnessing to the gospel. That is how we accept and spread the good news of God’s loving care for each of us. It is the love God shows us in Jesus, and which we show to another and to “this competitive world.” 

September 22, 2024 12:00 St Ignatius