Tuesday of Week 23 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
1 Corinthians 6:1-11 | Psalm 149:1-6,9 | Luke 6:12-19
Over a decade ago, I bought a book that still sits on my bookshelf, though it’s covered with dust now: The 48 Laws of Power.
It sketches a Machiavellian model of personal power with a stark central thesis: You gain power by depriving others of their power – to understand what’s happening, to act freely, to fully trust you. Fail at this, and it would be others who draw power from you.
In today’s reading, St. Paul vents his frustration with the Christians in Corinth who are suing each other in front of pagan judges in Roman courts, instead of settling their differences amicably within the Christian community. In doing so, they mirror the litigious world we have today, both embodying the power model described above: Not only must I prevail, but you must also be utterly crushed and humiliated in the process.
Jesus, however, embodies a different sort of power in today’s Gospel:
everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all (Luke 6:19)
His power is for others, not from them. He enables, and does not subjugate. He gave everything of himself, holding nothing back, and He asks us to do the same.
And Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, who was canonized this past Sunday, answered His call in spades. I like Pope Francis’ off-the-cuff remark at his homily, as I too find “St. Mother Teresa” or “Mother St. Teresa” or even “St. Teresa of Calcutta” to be rather awkward ways of referring to a diminutive woman who gave her all to those who themselves had nothing to give. “Mother” is indeed the proper honorific, both necessary and sufficient.
So Jesus has shown the way, and Mother Teresa has confirmed it through her own actions. Shall we follow suit?
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
Wait, you despise that book, and yet you still keep it?
Yes. Like it or not, this has become the playbook of the mundane world. If nothing else, it behooves us to understand such tactics, in order to spot and potentially counter them.
Besides, I have a soft spot for one of the laws that I’ve yet to master:
Law 4: Always Say Less than Necessary
Ouch.