“Good Advice for the Ages” by Colleen O’Sullivan
Beloved: Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for: God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble. Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you. Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. (1 Peter 5:5b, 7-9)
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)
Piety
Lord, keep me safe from the love of worldly recognition. Help me to serve rather than seek to be served. Hold before me the truth that you are the only Rock worth leaning on and help me always to be vigilant against the evil spirit.
Study
As Peter and Mark write, Jesus is risen. “So what do we do now?” must have been the question on every one of the apostles’ minds. In the Gospel reading, we are told to be evangelists wherever we go. Proclaim the Good News to every person on earth. That’s the overall mission. That’s the big picture.
Our first reading focuses more on our day-to-day pursuits. In his letter Peter has some very particular suggestions: Be humble. Turn your worries over to God. Keep your eyes open for the evil spirit, who is always looking for new prey. Whatever happens, don’t waver in your faith. Around the world are people like you undergoing the same sufferings.
Pope Francis has had much to say on the topic of living a humble life. The world tells us to seek success, power and money; God tells us to seek humility, service and love.[1] The Holy Father goes beyond mere words about humility, however. He is known for his Holy Thursday washing of the feet of prison inmates. He lives and dresses simply. His lifestyle gives us something to think about and desire for ourselves, a lifestyle of humble service to others.
We all know that worrying is a waste of time, but that doesn’t keep us from spending countless hours doing so. Trust in God instead, because God cares about us and has proven trustworthy throughout the ages. The only rock worth leaning on in good times or bad is the Lord.
Peter tells us to beware of the evil spirit. I know many people today laugh at the idea of the devil. We’ve seen too many cartoons of a leering character dressed in red, holding a trident of some sort. Forget all that. The evil spirit is too smart for such nonsense and appears to us in guises of good that successfully beckon us down the wrong paths. Evil is as alive and well as ever.
Finally, Peter says not to lose our faith. When we feel it wavering, he advises looking around the world to realize that other people suffer the same things you and I do. Suffering is part of life, not a reason to abandon our trust in the goodness of God.
Action
Peter’s advice is so down to earth, and yet so darn hard to follow. Who doesn’t want to be a somebody? But often we’re looking to the wrong audience, the world. Better to be a loving servant, a real somebody in God’s eyes.
My middle name and many of yours as well could be “worry.” We specialize in this, although I’ve never known worrying to change a thing. Better to pray to God about what worries us; often God is the only one who can do anything to remedy our problems, anyway.
The evil spirit hates the name of Jesus and is powerless before it. So, arm yourself in prayer. In the Our Father, we pray, “deliver us from evil.” In the Anima Christi prayer, we pray, “From the wicked foe, defend me.”
Wherever you feel Peter particularly speaking to you, use that as a jumping off point in your prayer today.
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