One Minute Reflection – 21 October – Today’s Gospel: Mark 10:35-45 – Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, the Memorial of Blessed Karl of Austria (1887 – 1922)
“For the Son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”…Mark 10:45
REFLECTION – “In the biblical tradition, the Son of Man is the one who receives from God “dominion, glory and kingship”. Jesus fills this image with new meaning. He shows us that He enjoys dominion because He is a servant, glory because He is capable of abasement, kingship because He is fully prepared to lay down His life. By His passion and death, He takes the lowest place, attains the heights of grandeur in service and bestows this upon His Church”…Pope Francis – Canonisation Mass, 18 October 2015
PRAYER – Holy Father, grant me an operative faith, a faith that will move mountains. Enlighten my soul with Your Light, Goodness, Power and Wisdom. Let my faith be an image of You by lively deeds and love and by conforming myself to Your Will in all things. Blessed Karl of Austria, amidst the fineries of your earthly kingship, you longed only to serve the God of all and searched for complete closeness and abandonment to Him, teach us by your prayer, to serve God alone with upright hearts and thus manifest a true faith, through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.