Leading Is Hard Work

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?"
They answered him,
"Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."
Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
They said to him, "We can."
Jesus said to them, "The chalice that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared."
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them,
"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the 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."

Here is another example of the Apostles just not getting the idea of why Jesus is here and what He is about.  James and John want to sit on the right and the left of Jesus when He returns in His glory. Jesus tells them straight out that they do not know what they are asking for.  He asks if they can go through the things He must go through?  They say. "Yes." and he assures them that they will through what He will have to go through but to sit at His right and left is not His decision, it is the decision of the Father.  Then He tells them something strange.  He says that the leader of their group will have to be the servant of all the others.  This is not the sort of a leader that they or we are used to having.  A leader commands that feet be washed, he does not wash them himself.  Yet, this is what Jesus is telling us.  We need to serve one another.  The higher up you go, the more servant-like you should become. Like Jesus, we are not here to be served but to serve. 

Please remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory.  Pray for them every day.