The Ego Wants to Impose Itself
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“The Lord upholds my life.”Ps. 54
The TENDENCY OF THE EGO is to be king and lord, which is why it doesn’t want to submit to anyone, not even God, only to its own whims and interests; it even wants to dominate others. It desires people who are like its pets, always agreeing with it in everything, never contradicting it in any way. And this is exactly what it wants from God: a God who doesn’t say or ask anything of it, who doesn’t condemn it, and under the pretext that God is love, believes that He cannot condemn it, no matter what it does.
This is what we see clearly in today’s readings: “We will subject him to insults and torture, to test his resolve and see his endurance.” The envy of the wicked toward the good led Cain to kill his brother Abel. Envy is ignorance because it compares the incomparable, as we are different members of the body of Christ, with different gifts and charisms. You cannot compare the eye to the ear, nor can the foot do the same as the hand. Today, James says: “Where do wars and conflicts among you come from? Is it not from the passions that are at war within you? You desire what you do not have, and you end up committing murder.”
“Because you say: I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked… I rebuke and discipline those I love; be earnest and repent.”Revelation 3:17ff
The ego is blind and sees no one but itself. Therefore, it wants everyone to be subjugated to it. If it believed that God is love toward it, it would believe that everything God asks of it is for its greatest good and would listen. But it does not believe that God knows better than it what is good for it. It believes more in itself and wants to decide everything on its own, excluding God.
The ego deceives itself by wanting God to go along with it, to indulge it, and to be an accomplice in its whims and wrongdoings, even its sins, turning a blind eye or even rewarding it for all of this, both in this life and with eternal life. In other words, the ego places itself in God’s position, dictating what it wants God to do, teaching Him what He should do, as if God were its genie in a lamp. But the ego doesn’t realize that if God were reduced to that, He would not enrich it, He would leave it in its sin, not freeing it from it, and that would be worse for the ego because sin is tied to death and cannot lead to life.
This is why Jesus asks us to leave behind our ego in order to follow Him. Therefore, we must go against the tendencies of our ego: “If anyone wants to be first, they must be the last of all and the servant of all.” He asks us to become like children, who are not in control, because we must let Him be our guide. Trusting in God’s love means believing that He knows better than we do what is good for us. We must be like His sheep, those who listen to Him and follow Him. The good shepherd assures us of His protection and guidance to eternal life, convinced that everything He asks of us is for our good, out of love, to give us life, even if it costs us to submit our ego.
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
Best known as Padre Pio, St. Pius was born Francesco Forgione in 1807 in Pietrelcina, Italy. As a young boy he suffered many illnesses including typhoid. He joined Capuchin Franciscans at 15 and took the name of Pius or “Pio” in honor of Pope Pius I. He was ordained in 1910, and at this time he received the marks of stigmata, the wounds of Christ, but they eventually healed. Frequent illnesses continued to plague him as a young man.
Padre Pio served in the Italian Medical Corps during World War I, but he was discharged early because of illness, which was likely tuberculosis. He was assigned to the friary in San Giovanni Rotondo. In 1918, while continuing to serve at the friary the stigmata appeared again, and this time remained until his death.
Many faithful came to see him at the friary, his days were long, beginning with Mass at 5 a.m. then hearing confessions all day with breaks to bless the sick. A simple man, content to do God’s will on earth and with the ardent desire to serve the sick and poor in whom he saw Christ, he urged a hospital, Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (House for the Relief of Suffering), to be built in San Giovanni Rotondo. It opened in 1956.
Padre P10 died at the age of eighty-one in 1960 and in 2002 Pope John Paul II proclaimed him “St. Pio of Pietrelcina.”
Weekly Readings
Sunday: Wis 2:12, 17-20/Ps 54:3-4, 5, 6-8 (6b)/Jas 3:16 4:3/Mk 9:30-37
Monday: Prv 3:27-34/Ps 15:2-3a, 3bc-4ab, 5/Lk 8:16-18
Tuesday: Prv 21:1-6, 10-13/Ps 119:1, 27, 30, 34, 35, 44/Lk 8:19-21
Wednesday: Prv 30:5-9/Ps 119:29, 72, 89, 101, 104, 163/Lk 9:1-6
Thursday: Eccl 1:2-11/Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b/Lk 9:7-9
Friday: Eccl 3:1-11/Ps 144:1b and 2abc, 3-4/Lk 9:18-22
Saturday: Eccl 11:9—12:8/Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17/Lk 9:43b-45
Next Sunday: Nm 11:25-29/Ps 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14 (9a)/Jas 5:1-6/Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Observances for the Week
Sunday: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday: St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest; National Migration Week
Thursday: Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs
Friday: St. Vincent de Paul, Priest
Saturday: St. Wenceslaus, Martyr; St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs
Next Sunday: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time; Priesthood Sunday
