Jas 5:1-6 / Mk 9:41-50
Very early in most standard ethics or philosophy courses there's usually a discussion of the self-evident proposition that we human beings are social beings, and inescapably so. We need to live in the company of others if we are to survive and thrive. And when we are deprived of that continuous contact and exchange, we wither and die from within, as happens so often among small children and the elderly who have been abandoned. We surely do need one another if we are to thrive.
The gift of friendship, the willingness to share our company and our selves with others is indeed a golden gift, but it can have its dark side too, as today's gospel reminds us. Just as our love and good example can lift up and carry along the people around us, our bad example can drag our neighbors down and can lead them into terrible paths they never would have found without our active or passive urgings.
It's not only our children who watch and imitate what we do. To a surprising extent, our peers and often even our elders are influenced and moved by what we say and do. It's an immense power that we have in our hands, and we must use it wisely and circumspectly as Jesus did at every moment.
You have a wonderful gift to give in the form of a life well and rightly lived. Give that gift as truly as you can, and know the joy of living without regrets.
