In
the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In today's Gospel lesson, the disciples come to Jesus with a rather
misguided, but all-too-common question. Their question is one that we
all like to ask from time to time “Who is the greatest?” You and
I all want to be the best, the brightest, the most successful, the
greatest. Even if you cannot be the grade-A, certified best at
everything, you still want to be the greatest at fill-in-the-blank.
Because of this compulsion, we have seen an explosion of self-esteem
boosters, ranging from the cute and relatively benign to the just
plain ridiculous. Go to a department store just before Mother's Day,
and you will see the shelves littered with clothing and trinkets
emblazoned with “#1 Mom”. Kids will squabble endlessly to win the
title of “best friend”. Of course, these things are relatively
harmless, but it doesn't stop there.
