Readings & Reflections: Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time & Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio, February 25,2020

St. James warns: “You kill and envy…. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” The Twelve argue about “who was the greatest.” Saint James counsels: “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil…. Draw near to God.” The Lord, with his arms around a little child, shows us how.

AMDG+

Opening Prayer

“Lord, by your cross you have redeemed the world and revealed your glory and triumph over sin and death. May I never fail to see your glory and victory in the cross.  Help me to conform my life to your will and to follow in your way of holiness.” Amen.

Reading I
Jas 4:1-10

Beloved:
Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?
Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?
You covet but do not possess.
You kill and envy but you cannot obtain;
you fight and wage war.
You do not possess because you do not ask.
You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly,
to spend it on your passions.
Adulterers!
Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God?
Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world
makes himself an enemy of God.
Or do you suppose that the Scripture speaks without meaning when it says,
The spirit that he has made to dwell in us tends toward jealousy?
But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says:
God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.

So submit yourselves to God.
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you of two minds.
Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep.
Let your laughter be turned into mourning
and your joy into dejection.
Humble yourselves before the Lord
and he will exalt you.

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 55:7-8, 9-10a, 10b-11a, 23
R. (23a) Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.

And I say, “Had I but wings like a dove,
I would fly away and be at rest.
Far away I would flee;
I would lodge in the wilderness.”
R. Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.

“I would wait for him who saves me
from the violent storm and the tempest.”
Engulf them, O Lord; divide their counsels.
R. Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.

In the city I see violence and strife,
day and night they prowl about upon its walls.
R. Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.
Cast your care upon the LORD,
and he will support you;
never will he permit the just man to be disturbed.
R. Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.

Gospel

Mk 9:30-37

Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee,
but he did not wish anyone to know about it.
He was teaching his disciples and telling them,
“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men
and they will kill him,
and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.”
But they did not understand the saying,
and they were afraid to question him.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house,
he began to ask them,
“What were you arguing about on the way?”
But they remained silent.
For they had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.
Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection 1 – Anyone wishes to be the first

Today Jesus reveals to us that whoever receives a child in His Name, receives Him and the One Who sent Him. “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” Jesus wants us to receive every man in love and never to judge anyone. We have to believe and act that we are all equal in the eyes of God and that we are no better than our neighbor. We should be able to welcome everyone into God’s fold especially those who have been separated from Him. We should care and love them in the Name of our Lord always trying to draw them closer to God. We are tasked to bring them back into the company of God’s people in love and mercy, not condescendingly judge and condemn them. “It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.” To further emphasize the need to love one another, Jesus said in today’s gospel: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” implying the need for all to give more and more of self and to deny and empty one self.

Let me share a confession of Whittaker Chambers (a former Communist) in his book “Witness” about one of his heroes as a young man.

His hero was Felix Djerjinsky, a Pole who was ascetic, highly sensitive, intelligent. As a young man, Djerjinsky was a political prisoner in the Paviak Prison in Warsaw where he insisted on being given the task of cleaning the latrines of other prisoners as he had the belief and conviction that the most developed member of any community must take upon himself the lowliest tasks as an example to those who are less developed.

To be a true leader, one should be able to do the lowliest of jobs to set an example for the others to follow. Djerjinsky’s idea of leadership bring us to what Jesus has to say about leadership within the Church: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”

Jesus is the Head of the Body and as such He had to do the work the Father had for Him. He had to joyfully oblige to the Father’s will, pay for the ransom and die on the Cross! As His followers and workers, let us ask ourselves: How willing are we to serve rather than be served by others?

One of the obstacles to truly serving God’s people and be the last and servant of all is our PRIDE. Combined with covetousness and envy, we impede our service for the Lord. Instead of being fruitful for the Lord, we are lost in the mire of self and fail to see the beauty of one’s work for the Lord. We may become critical of the other person, to the eventual detriment of God’s flock. Our motive and attitude in serving God and His flock becomes so fleshy, so attached to the world such that our works become acts of selfishness, rivalry, dissension, factions and even outbursts of fury and hatred. “The works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21

Regrettably, our yearning to be a selfless leader like Jesus, becomes a failed ministry, so dominant and controlling, whose focus would be power, authority and influence. We become God’s foe and an instrument of the evil one. “Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4

Let us always be reminded that: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Let us then “submit ourselves to God, resist the devil…draw near to God, cleanse our hands, purify our hearts and humble ourselves before the Lord and he will exalt us!” James 4:7-11

Direction

Bring God’s Word to everyone. We have to receive in love our brothers and sisters no matter how unlovable and lowly they may be. Serve others anonymously without hoping for any credits.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, give me the grace to draw people into your fold. Help me serve you and your people humbly and without any consideration for credit and honor. In Jesus, I pray and hope. Amen.

Reflection 2 – Who is the greatest in God’s kingdom?

Whose glory do you seek? There can be no share in God’s glory without the cross. When Jesus prophesied his own betrayal and crucifixion, it did not make any sense to his disciples because it did not fit their understanding of what the Messiah came to do. And they were afraid to ask further questions! Like a person who might receive a bad verdict from the doctor and then refuse to ask further questions, they, too, didn’t want to know any more. How often do we reject what we do not wish to see? We have heard the good news of God’s word and we know the consequences of accepting it or rejecting it. But do we give it our full allegiance and mold our lives according to it? Ask the Lord to fill you with his Holy Spirit and to inspire within you a reverence for his word and a readiness to obey it.

Do you compare yourself with others?
How ashamed the disciples must have been when Jesus overheard them arguing about who among them was the greatest! But aren’t we like the disciples? We compare ourselves with others and desire their praise. The appetite for glory and greatness seems to be inbred in us. Who doesn’t cherish the ambition to be “somebody” whom others admire rather than a “nobody”? Even the psalms speak about the glory God has destined for us. You have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5).

Jesus made a dramatic gesture by embracing a child to show his disciples who really is the greatest in the kingdom of God. What can a little child possibly teach us about greatness? Children in the ancient world had no rights, position, or privileges of their own. They were socially at the “bottom of the rung” and at the service of their parents, much like the household staff and domestic servants.

Who is the greatest in God’s kingdom?
What is the significance of Jesus’ gesture? Jesus elevated a little child in the presence of his disciples by placing the child in a privileged position of honor. It is customary, even today, to seat the guest of honor at the right side of the host. Who is the greatest in God’s kingdom? The one who is humble and lowly of heart – who instead of asserting their rights willingly empty themselves of pride and self-seeking glory by taking the lowly position of a servant or child.

Jesus, himself, is our model. He came not to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:28). Paul the Apostle states that Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7). Jesus lowered himself (he whose place is at the right hand of God the Father) and took on our lowly nature that he might raise us up and clothe us in his divine nature.

God wants to fill us with his own glory
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). If we want to be filled with God’s life and power, then we need to empty ourselves of everything which stands in the way – pride, self-seeking glory, vanity, etc. God wants empty vessels so he can fill them with his own glory, power, and love (2 Corinthians 4:7). Are you ready to humble yourself and to serve as Jesus did?

“Lord Jesus, by your cross you have redeemed the world and revealed your glory and triumph over sin and death. May I never fail to see your glory and victory in the cross.  Help me to conform my life to your will and to follow in your way of holiness.” – Read the source: http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2020/feb25.htm

Reflection 3 – Is your love for God tried and true?

He who is least among you all will be great. –Luke 9:48

“What do you think of the candidates?” That’s what a reporter for a news magazine asked a young woman at Dartmouth University after a debate among presidential hopefuls. She didn’t say a word about their positions on the issues or their skill at debate. She simply remarked, “None of them seems to have any humility.”

Benjamin Franklin, the early American statesman, made a list of character qualities that he wanted to develop in his own life. When he mastered one virtue, he went on to the next. He did pretty well, he said, until he got to humility. Every time he thought he was making significant progress, he would be so pleased with himself that he became proud.

Humility is an elusive virtue. Even Jesus’ disciples struggled with it. When Jesus learned that they had been arguing about who was the greatest, He responded, “If anyone desires to be first, he should be last of all and servant of all” (Mk. 9:35). Then He took a little child in His arms and indicated that we need to humbly serve others as if we were serving Christ.

If a news reporter were to talk to our friends, neighbors, or fellow church members and ask them to describe us, would they use the word humble?  — David C. Egner

True greatness does not lie with those
Who strive for worldly fame;
It lies instead with those who choose
To serve in Jesus’ name. –DJD

Humility can be sought but never celebrated (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 6 – Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio (1502-1600 A.D.)

Sebastian’s roads and bridges connected many distant places. His final bridge-building was to help men and women recognize their God-given dignity and destiny.

Sebastian’s parents were Spanish peasants. At the age of 31 he sailed to Mexico, where he began working in the fields. Eventually he built roads to facilitate agricultural trading and other commerce. His 466-mile road from Mexico City to Zacatecas took 10 years to build and required careful negotiations with the indigenous peoples along the way.

In time Sebastian was a wealthy farmer and rancher. At the age of 60 he entered a virginal marriage. His wife’s motivation may have been a large inheritance; his was to provide a respectable life for a girl without even a modest marriage dowry. When his first wife died, he entered another virginal marriage for the same reason; his second wife also died young.

At the age of 72 Sebastian distributed his goods among the poor and entered the Franciscans as a brother. Assigned to the large (100-member) friary at Puebla de los Angeles south of Mexico City, Sebastian went out collecting alms for the friars for the next 25 years. His charity to all earned him the nickname “Angel of Mexico.”

Sebastian was beatified in 1787 and is known as a patron of travelers.

Comment:

According to the Rule of St. Francis, the friars were to work for their daily bread. Sometimes, however, their work would not provide for their needs; for example, working with people suffering from leprosy brought little or no pay. In cases such as these, the friars were allowed to beg, always keeping in mind the admonition of Francis to let their good example commend them to the people. The life of the prayerful Sebastian, still hard at work in his 90’s, certainly drew many closer to God.

Quote:

St. Francis once told his followers: “There is a contract between the world and the friars. The friars must give the world a good example; the world must provide for their needs. When they break faith and withdraw their good example, the world will withdraw its hand in a just censure” (2 Celano, #70).

Read the source:  http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1302

SAINT OF THE DAY
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BLESSED SEBASTIAN DE APARICIO Y DEL PARDO, O.F.M.
A statue of the Blessed Sebastian outside the Franciscan church of Puebla where his incorrupt body is preserved for veneration
WIDOWER, RELIGIOUS AND CONFESSOR
BORN	January 20, 1502 A Gudiña, Ourense, Spain
DIED	February 25, 1600 (aged 98) Puebla de los Ángeles, Puebla, Mexico, New Spain
VENERATED IN	Roman Catholic Church (Mexico and the Order of Friars Minor)
BEATIFIED	17 May 1789 by Pope Pius VI
FEAST	25 February
PATRONAGE	Transport industry (Mexico)

Sebastian de Aparicio y del Pardo, O.F.M., was a Spanish colonist in Mexico shortly after its conquest by Spain, who after a lifetime as a rancher and road builder entered the Order of Friars Minor as a lay brother. He spent the next 26 years of his long life as a beggar for the Order and died with a great reputation for holiness. He has been beatified by the Catholic Church.

Contents

 [hide] 

• 1Early life
• 2Mexico
  • 2.1Successful Entrepreneur
  • 2.2Friar
• 3Death
• 4References

Early life[edit]

Aparicio was born in A Gudiña, Ourense, in the Galician region of Spain. He was the third child and only son of Juan de Aparicio and Teresa del Prado, who were poor, but pious peasants, and spent his childhood tending sheep and cattle and in service to those of means. He learned his prayers from his parents, but had no schooling, and was not able to read or write.^[1] Despite his illiteracy, he had absorbed the discourse on how to lead a pious and holy life that he could emulate models in hagiographic texts.^[2] According to his own account, his life was saved in a seemingly-miraculous way during an outbreak of the bubonic plague in his town in 1514. Forced to isolate him from the community inquarantine, his parents built a hidden shelter for him in the woods, where they left him. While lying there helpless, due to his illness, a she-wolf found the hiding spot and, poking her head into his hiding spot, sniffed and then bit and licked an infected site on his body, before running off. He began to heal from that moment.^[3]

When Aparicio was older, he determined to seek work outside his region in order to help support his family and to provide dowries for his sisters. He traveled east to Salamanca and then as far south as Sanlúcar de Barrameda, doing agricultural work. Apparently, due to his good looks, he was frequently the target of sexual advances by women, which violated his determination to live a life of chastity. He finally decided to escape the situation and to improve his fortune by traveling to the newly conquered Americas. He also desired to help the conquered peoples of Spain’s new lands and to foster the Catholic faith there.

Parish church of Gudiña, where the Blessed Sebastian was baptized as a newborn

Mexico[edit]

Successful Entrepreneur[edit]

Aparacio sailed from Spain in 1533, landing in Veracruz later that year. With the growth of the cattle trade introduced to the Americas by the Spanish and the landgrants offered to colonists by the Spanish government, he decided to move farther inland to Puebla de los Ángeles, recently founded by the Franciscan friar, Toribio de Benavente Motolinia, one of the Twelve Apostles of Mexico who came to New Spain in 1524 to evangelize the Indians.

Once settled in Puebla, Aparacio began to cultivate indigenous maize but also European wheat. He was one of the first Spaniards who raised and trained cattle, another European import, to use in plow farming and transportation.^[4] He got permission to ride out into the brush and round up wild cattle which he then trained to pull a cart. As a result, he is considered to be the first Mexican “cowboy” or charro.^[5] He realized the difficulty of transporting supplies in Mexico, which before the conquest had no domesticated animals to move goods and difficult terrain, which meant that transport between growing Spanish settlements impeded economic expansion. The burden the lack of decent roads caused both the native peoples and animals forced to bear the loads on poor and uneven surfaces through the mountains cutting the countryside. He then conceived the idea of building roads from Puebla to the port of Veracruz, Mexico’s main link to Spain. He recruited a fellow Spaniard as a partner in the enterprise, and they approached the colonial authorities for a grant to undertake this construction. Successful in this, they began building the roads which began to connect Spanish communities of Mexico. After several years, he promoted the building of a highway to connect the silver mining city of Zacatecas with Mexico City. The discovery of silver in Mexico in the 1540s was a major event in the economic consolidation of the colony. Aparicio established the transport system which sent agricultural products to Spain and brought necessary items to the residents of New Spain.^[6]

Aparicio prospered, becoming a wealthy man, but he decided to sell his transport business in 1552. He then bought an expanse of land (hacienda de labor) near Zacatecas, where he farmed and ranched cattle. He began to teach the native people how to use a plow for their farms. He showed them how to domesticate horses and oxen, introduced by the Spanish and unfamiliar to the indigenous population, and how to build wagons for transporting their goods, as wheels had also previously been unknown.^[3] He, however, had never lost his commitment to a life of faith. He followed a very ascetic way of life, sleeping on the ground and eating the poorest foods. His charity extended to all, giving much of his wealth to those in need, and lending money without asking anything in return.^[3] Eventually feeling pressured to marry, at the age of 60 he became engaged to a young woman who had no hopes of finding a husband, due to her lack of a dowry. They agreed to practice a white marriage, not consummating the union. Though she was much younger, his wife died a year later. He married again two years after that, with one María Esteban, with the same arrangement, only to lose his second wife by the time he was 70.^[1]

Friar[edit]

Shortly after being widowed for the second time, Aparicio grew seriously ill and began to re-assess his life. He began to dress very simply and to spend long hours in church. Feeling a call to enter the consecrated life, he frequently visited the Franciscan friars in Tlalnepantla. Added to his own doubts were those of a number of the friars as to his ability to follow their life. Finally his confessor made a suggestion: Aparicio would donate his fortune to the first Monastery of Poor Clares in Mexico, founded a few years earlier, and would live as a volunteer on the grounds, serving the external needs of the nuns. He accepted this suggestion, and signed a deed to this effect on 20 December 1573.^[5]

The following year, despite considerable advice against this from his friends, given his advanced age, Aparicio finally decided to apply to the friars to be admitted as a lay brother. After a year of following the routine of service and prayer followed by nuns, the superiors of the friars decided to accept him, and he received thereligious habitof a friar on 9 June 1574, aged 72, at the novitiate of the Order in Mexico City. During the following year of probation, he experienced continued trials, both with the difference in age between himself and his classmates, and in what he experienced as demonic attacks upon his resolve. These ended with hisprofession of religious vowson 13 June 1575. As he was still illiterate, his document of commitment had to be signed by a fellow friar, Alfonso Peinado.^[5]

After this, Aparicio was assigned to serve at the friary in Santiago in Tecali, near Puebla. He felt a blessing in this location, dedicated as it is to St. James the Great, the patron saint of his native Galicia, to whom he prayed constantly throughout his life. At the friary, over the course of the following year, he held a number of offices: cook, sacristan, gardener and porter. He was then assigned to the large community of friars in the city of Puebla, at that time consisting of about 100 friars, most of whom were doing their studies or were retired or recovering from illness. He was appointed to be the quaestor of the community, the one assigned to travel throughout the local community, seeking food and alms for the upkeep of the friars and those who came to them for help. The builder of Mexico’s highway system had become a beggar on it. Despite his advanced age, he felt the vigor needed for the task.^[5]

Aparacio was given an oxcart with two oxen to travel through the city and the surrounding villages. He lived on the road for days, sleeping on the ground under the cart in bad weather. He would spend his time mediating on the Passion and on the teachings and example of St. Francis of Assisi. He would hold a rosary in one hand and the reins in the other. He soon became a familiar sight throughout Mexico, known for his cry, Guárdeos Dios, hermanos, ¿hay qué dar, por Dios, a San Francisco? (May God keep you, brothers. Do you have anything to give, for the love of God, to St. Francis?)^[5] He spent the last 26 years of his life in this way. He was seen to be a model friar and people declared that wherever Friar Sebastian went, “the angels accompanied him”. From his many years of handling them, even animals followed his orders. Just by his slightest command, horses, oxen and mules would obey his words. The integrity of his life spoke of simplicity and of Christ to the people of the region.^[3]

Aparicio’s level of health, even at the end of his life, was attested to in an incident which occurred while he was on the road. One time, as he was returning to the friary with the cart filled with donations, a wheel started to come off. The friar dismounted and unhooked the oxen from the cart. He then lifted it himself, while he repaired the wheel. The laborer who saw this swore that it would normally have taken four men to lift that cart. He was aged 95 at the time of the incident.^[5]

Death[edit]

Statue of Sebastian de Aparicio in Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Zapopan.

Though he had long suffered from a hernia, Aparicio marked his 98th birthday on the road, apparently in good health. On the following 20 February, he developed what was to be his final illness, as the hernia became entangled. He began to feel pain and nausea, and, upon arrival at the friary, was immediately sent to the infirmary. It was the first time he had slept in a bed in 25 years. As his condition worsened, he became unable to swallow. His only regret was that, due to this, he was unable to receive Holy Communion. As he lay dying, he was consoled by the friars’ fulfilling his request that they bring the Blessed Sacrament to his cell.^[5]

On the evening of 25 February, Aparicio asked to be laid on the ground to meet his death, in imitation of St. Francis. He soon died in the arms of a fellow Galician, Friar Juan de San Buenaventura, with his last word being “Jesus”.^[5] When his body lay in state, the crowds that gathered were large, and the miracles wrought were so numerous, that he could not be buried for several days.^[6] His habit had to be replaced repeatedly, as mourners would snip a piece of it off to keep as the relic of a saint.^[5]

When authorities exhumed Aparicio’s body six months later, they found that it had not decomposed. Two years later when they exhumed his body again, it still remained incorrupt. After an investigation by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico City, in which nearly 1,000 miracles at his intercession were reported, Pope Pius VI beatified him in 1789 and today his incorrupt body can be seen at the Church of San Francisco in Puebla.^[3]

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b Escobar, Juan, O.F.M. “Sebastián de Aparicio, Beato”.Catholic.net. Retrieved 25 February 2013.(Spanish)
2. Jump up^ Ronald J. Morgan, Spanish American Saints and the Rhetoric of Identity, 1600-1810, Tucson: Arizona State Press 2002, p. 36.
3. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e} Markey, Greg, Father (14 February 2013).“Blessed Sebastián de Aparicio”. Fairfield County Catholic. Retrieved25 February 2013.
4. Jump up^ Ronald J. Morgan, ibid. pp. 40-41.
5. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f g h i} Calvo Moralejo, Gaspar, O.F.M. (1973). Emigrante… hay camino: Sebastián de Aparicio. Franciscanos.org(Madrid: España misionera). Retrieved25 February 2013.(Spanish)
6. ^ Jump up to:^a b “Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio”. Roman Catholic Saints. Retrieved 25 February 2013.