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As
Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by
themselves, and said to them on the way, “Behold, we are going up
to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief
priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand
him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and
he will be raised on the third day.”
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The
duo, rap singer Cee-Lo and producer Danger Mouse, who call themselves
Gnarls Barkley, produced the song
"Crazy" that is a statement about accomplishing something
in life, and then looking back and seriously thinking about what was
accomplished. "And when you’re out there," the
person in the song sings, "without care, I was out of
touch. But it wasn’t because I didn’t know
enough. I just knew too much. Does that make me
crazy? Possibly. Come on now, who do you think you
are. You really think you’re in control? Well, I
think you’re crazy just like me. My heroes had the heart to
lose their lives out on a limb and all I remember is thinking I wanna
be like them. But maybe I’m crazy, maybe we’re
crazy. Probably."
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Jesus
faced the reality of his death with conviction. Knowing what was
going to happen, he did not give into despair. Instead, he was
forthright in his approach: "We are going up to Jerusalem, and
the Son of Man will be handed over...and they will condemn him to
death...and he will be raised on the third day." Jesus was
resigned to the reality because he was aware of his mission.
Whether the reality is conquering the sin of the world, as it was with Jesus or conquering the sin of a country or showing love and concern to another, we must accept the task with determination. Less mature people may make fun of such a committed person, call him "crazy" as in Gnarls Barkley’s song, because some people often try to hide the reality, or hide from reality, never really accepting what is happening. Consequently, they cannot make the proper judgments, and they either lose control of themselves or lose sight of what is actually going on. In daily living, hiding from reality is often translated into not doing what should be done. There are no doubt a number of areas in our lives that we could do better. We could be a little more tolerant of each other, we could be a little kinder to those around us, we could pay more attention to the people who need it, we could treat our families a little better. The reality is that we are not doing what we should do. Maybe we are giving into the criticism of less sincere people who call our desire "crazy." It is not crazy to accept what must be done with determination. Jesus was determined to fulfill his mission; we should be determined to do the good we are called to do, even if others might call it "crazy." |
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THOUGHT
What good thing
more than any other can we accomplish in our lives right now?
PRAYER Good
and gracious God, your Son
was determined to carry out his mission of doing good, even though
others did not understand. Help us accept the responsibility to
do the good that we can do, and give us the grace to be determined to
carry it out. Be with us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |