Gospel of Matthew, chapter 20:16

We can embrace the modern world’s “dog-eat-dog” philosophy of fierce competition, or we can follow the Lord Jesus who tells us that He came, not to be served, but to serve.

A fisherman was lying on a New England river bank …he was lazily casting his line into the water. Now and then he caught a silver fish. As he was hauling in a fish, a prosperously dressed businessman from a nearby town strolled over.

“Don’t you realize,” he asked the fisherman, “that you could catch more fish if you put several lines into the water at the same time?” The fisherman replied, “why would I want more fish?” The businessman explained, “if you had more fish, you would have more to sell, you would be more competitive, and you would make a lot more money. And if you made a lot more money, you could buy a big boat and cast nets. Then you could open up a store and would be selling your fish to the whole town. After you opened one store, you could open a second, and then a third. You could have many people working for you. Eventually, you could open a large wholesale fish market, shipping fish all over America. You could become a very rich man.”

The fisherman was unmoved: “And then what would I do?” The rich businessman replied: “Why, then of course, you would be successful, and you would be able to leisurely do whatever you most enjoy doing. You could just lie on your back, relax, and go fishing.” The fisherman looked up at him and smiled: “But that is what I’m doing now.”

There is no need to be overly aggressive about getting on in life. Our lives are in God’s hands ultimately. So, let us try to discover God’s will for us so that we can become the kind of people he wants us to be. And what does He want of us? He wants us to learn from Him who came, not to be served, but to serve.
That is why He says: “the last shall be first, and the first, last.”

Fr. Hugh Duffy

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PLEASE PRAY FOR VICTIMS OF EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI IN JAPAN

Kindly observe one minute of silence for the victims of this awful tragedy in Japan today at 2:30 p.m. You will be in communion with thousands of people throughout the world at this time.

God bless you and thank you.

Fr. Hugh Duffy