Tony Worner, Leader of Formation for St Agnes’ Catholic Parish, reads from the Gospel of Mark (10: 32-45) in which Jesus says to the disciples, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”.
Tony says, as we’ve seen over the last couple of days, the disciples still struggle to understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus, in other words, how they are to live. They are seeking power and prestige rather than what Jesus is modelling in serving. They heard what Jesus told them with their head, but not in their heart.

Tony says it reminds him of the saying from St Benedict, who said, “Listen with the ears of your heart”, and the Little Prince from the book of the same name, who said, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye”.

We become able to hear with the heart only when we enter into the experience of another. But this means making ourselves vulnerable to their pain.

In closing, Tony invites us to pray, ‘May God grant us the grace to listen with our heart’.