Morning Devotion for Epiphany
January 21, 2022
Saint Cecilia
The Invitatory
The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
Reading: Matthew 18:1-6
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
Muhammad Ali discusses his book "The Greatest: My Own Story"
Muhammad Ali: I think all of them want to be great. All people want to be victorious, want to be successful. And when they see it in another man, they naturally might envy it, especially when he talks about it and brags about it, and say "I'm gonna do this. He's going to fall. I am the king. I'm the greatest." And keeps doing it. Not only this confidence they don't have, and here's a man expressing and doing it, and they just want to see him beaten, many of them. Some like it, it encourages some, but some want to see him beat because he just shouldn't be that cocky and he shouldn't be able to get away with it. "I couldn't do it. He shouldn't be able to. (From Transcript of Interview of Muhammad Ali by Studs Terkel, November 26, 1975)
When this book was published, I must say I was completely taken aback by Ali’s boldness, and turned off. I did not deny his boxing prowess. The claim to be the greatest was overreaching. How long could he claim that? And what would he be afterwards? In life, his boxing career certainly exerted a cost to his health and his mental capacity. The claim in 1975 seemed to take no notice of the potential costs, simply the benefits that would accrue only to Ali.
Realizing the possible aspirations of his disciples, Jesus asks this pointed question: ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And to enhance the gravity of the question he places a child in their midst. The contrast is sharp. But the point is not simply to call attention to the seeming lack of greatness in a child, but to raise up the consequences of such ambition that eclipses the larger concerns of faith.
Today the Church celebrates Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians and Church music. She has been designated so because as she was dying, she was singing to God. Cecilia was long believed to have been a noble Roman lady. She, with her husband Valerian, his brother Tiburtius, and a Roman soldier Maximus, suffered martyrdom, c. 230, under the Emperor Alexander Severus. At that time, the officials attempted to kill her by boiling her alive. However, the attempt failed, and she was to be beheaded. The executioner attempted to decapitate her three times unsuccessfully, at which time he fled. Cecilia survived another three days before succumbing. In the last three days of her life, she opened her eyes, gazed at her family and friends who crowded around her cell, closed them, and never opened them again.
How does one legitimately compare accomplishments, no matter how great and outstanding, with unfailing faith unto death? How does one reckon with and assign a value to willingness to forgo self for something far greater than the self? Such abnegation occupies such a different realm than aspiration to greatness. The willingness to embrace weakness for something greater beyond oneself cannot be measured. Is that not the call of discipleship?
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
