In case we missed the point

Today's Mass readings are like a reprise of Lent: Jesus foretelling his suffering and death in the baldest possible terms, saying he came to "give his life as a ransom," and Peter in the first reading reminding the Christians that they were "redeemed, not with any perishable thing like silver or gold, but with the priceless Blood of Christ."

And in the midst of it all, the clueless sons of Zebedee, so like any one of us, waiting impatiently on the sidelines for Jesus to be done talking already, so they can put in a special request. For themselves.

One of my favorite aspects of the Theology of the Body, the thing that has consistently guided and uplifted me, is the way John Paul defines the human vocation in terms of gift. He even identifies the Holy Spirit as the divine Person-Gift! This is the quality of Jesus that comes through in today's Gospel. He did not come to be served, but to be gift.

And that, as the commercial says, is priceless.