Power and Greatness

The world is very confused about power and greatness.

People position themselves and sometimes do terrible things to have power, whether in a family or in the wider world. People even do this in Church. But power is not greatness. The first and greatest Christians were Jews, members of an enslaved race. The greatest Christian of all time was a woman, a woman once in danger of the death penalty. The greatest Christian in recent times was arguably a woman who lived and worked in the most wretched conditions imaginable. And some of the most disreputable Christians in history were in positions of the greatest power.

People also confuse greatness with fame – like the song says, “Fame! I’m going to live forever.”

No, no matter how much fame or earthly power you have, you are going to die, you are going to be dust, and sooner or later almost no one will remember you (and probably no one on this planet will).

The way to true greatness is marked out by Christ in today's Gospel:

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."

If we seek life, greatness, and power as the world defines them, sooner or later we will end up with nothing. But if we live in this world seeking only the greatness of God and the power of His love and truth, sooner or later we will end up with everything.