Mosaiek Church Lent 2025: Jesus' Questions in SufferingSample

“Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner? You’d rather eat and be served, right? But I’ve taken my place among you as the one who serves. And you’ve stuck with me through thick and thin

-Luke 22:27-28 (MSG)

Macarias, the desert father, was on his way to his abode when the devil confronted him and asked him where his power lay. The devil said that he had no power over Macarias and that he did only what Macarias did. He fasted, watched, knew the Bible and there was nothing in which he was inferior. Macarias answered him and said: It is my humility. Another story is that of Isaac of Syria (17th century). He was convinced that a humble person gave off a scent that people and animals could detect. He said that this scent could be so powerful that dangerous, wild animals would be intoxicated by it and would do no harm to such a person. He believed that a humble person carried with him the smell, the atmosphere of the earth and paradise. No one and nothing felt condemned by such a person, and everyone was attracted to such a person.

In these two stories, we get old ideas of what a life of humility looks like and what its effect is. Jesus tells His disciples that on this path of humility, they will live with Him in the Kingdom. Through humility we submit ourselves to God, we resist the devil, and he flees from us. (James 4:7). We experience peace and harmony restored in relationships, as with the disciples - they come together again and follow Him as a community of believers.

Reflection: Live with these two stories and think about them. What is it about these stories that grabs you? What do you strongly identify with and what do you strongly yearn for? Is there someone you can share it with?

Prayer: I ask for the grace of deep insight and conviction that my obsession with self is robbing me of life.