2nd Wednesday of Lent "Accept Chalice of Suffering"

 

 Today Jesus reminds us of the chalice and not be envious of others. The mother of James and John wanted Jesus to grant that her sons be able to sit on the right and the left beside Jesus in the kingdom of heaven. The two brothers most likely prompted their mother to ask Jesus the question. The result of the question was that other disciples became upset because the two brothers wanted to be closest to Jesus in heaven. They became envious of the “sons of thunder”.

Our Lord had just told them about His upcoming Passion, by telling them He was going to be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn them him to death, mocked, scourged and crucified and raised on the third day. Now they are seeking places of honor in heaven. They certainly must not have understood what Jesus meant.

When Jesus told asked them if they were willing “to drink the chalice I am going to drink”, they did not understand He was referring to His passion He just mentioned. The chalice is the chalice of suffering. In another words, He was telling them they too would be rejected and going through the terrible suffering of martyrdom, except John, but they would attempt to kill him by boiling him in oil. However, he would miraculously survive.

Jesus accepted the chalice of suffering during His agony in the Garden, but with great difficulty due to His human nature, He cried out, “Father if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.” But He went on to accept it and even would take a drink from the cup while on the Cross.

Almost all of us will sometime or another-- have become envious of someone else. Maybe we are envious of someone who has better health or who lives in a nicer home, or envious of someone who is especially talented, but we aren’t.

If become envious of others, we can even become angry at them, even though they did nothing to us. Jesus wants us to be happy with the gifts we have and happy with the gifts of others and we can especially by thanking and praising Him for our gifts and theirs.

He wants us to understand that to suffer and even die for others is the greatest gift and is the deepest meaning of His Passion and death. Its a gift of love, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends and even one’s enemies. St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians said, “But faith, hope and love abide, these three, the greatest of these is love.”

So to overcome envy and every other sin, one needs to have sacrificial love and to accept the chalice of suffering for love of God and others. So if we remember the greatest gift is love, it puts everything else in perspective. And we will strive to outdo others in sacrificial love.

May the Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love, give us the grace to accept sufferings as they come and offer them to Her Son as a gift for the salvation of souls.