Wednesday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time
May 27, 2015 6:30am
Many years ago, I read a little
story called Hope for the Flowers.
It is a story about caterpillars.
It so happens that there is this
mound of caterpillars.
And the caterpillars get the idea
that for some reason, they have to climb to the top and get on top of all the
other caterpillars.
Many of them think that life will
be wonderful and they will get the best view of everything around them if they
get to the top and are on top.
So, they start climbing.
And, of course, this means
climbing over one another.
It means caring only about
yourself and getting to the top and not even caring about the other
caterpillars whom you are climbing over.
In the midst of this, what
happens is that two caterpillars refuse to step on one another or climb over
one another.
Their names are Stripe and
Yellow.
They drop off of the tall pillar
of caterpillars, go down to the ground and what happens?
They spin a cocoon and emerge as
butterflies and soar above the pillar of caterpillars.
Stripe and Yellow discover that
you can really soar in life just by being what God made you to be and not by
climbing or walking over one another.
That is kind of a modern day
parable.
It makes the point that Jesus is
making today in his response to James and John and the other apostles.
We are to be what God made us to
be.
Comparing ourselves with others
or being above or better than others is not the point.
We are simply to become what God
calls us, as individuals, to become.
In doing this, we are to be
respectful of others.
And, in fact, our respect will
flow over into care for others even as we pursue and are what God calls us to
be.
