In the just-recently-concluded Olympics in Japan, something extraordinary happened between two competitors in the high jump. They had equal scores after all the required jumps and they both qualified for the gold medal. They were then given the option of a single jump-off to determine who might take the gold or agree to split the money 50/50 and both get gold medals. It did not take them a minute to decide. They both reached out to each other and hugged all the way to the podium as the whole stadium cheered.

Curbing ambition is a difficult thing, but occasionally, there are some people who exhibit such levels of contentment, satisfaction and grace – to our amazement. Human beings are hardwired to compete, to get an edge or seek to be in a better and advantageous position than the next person. This happens to siblings,
friends, coworkers, etc... However, this Sunday, Jesus is teaching us to tame our ambition through humility. Not even the apostles could escape the trap of ambition, as they schemed and tried to claim positions of authority and power in the coming Kingdom of Christ, even though they had no clear understanding of what it all meant. Jesus set them straight, as He taught them a lesson in humility. The one who seeks greatness should be ready to be a servant and a slave to others. He should be as humble as a child.

Ambition in and of itself is not bad, but when it crosses the line into excess, then it can ruin the person. Some of the negative sides of excessive ambition and statements we should look out for include:

fixation: “I’ve got to see this through, no matter what;” greed: "I need more;" despair: "if I don’t get it, this is the end of me;" selfishness: "it can all be mine," Gollum in the Lord of the Rings said it best: "This is mine; my precious," even as he was wasting away because of the ring; and loneliness: "others distract me from my path to achieve my goal," among others things.

May we, like the two athletes, with Jesus’ advice, split earth's wealth through generosity and wear the gold through humility.

Amen.

We are grateful to our Bishop, The Most Reverend Roger J. Foys, for coming to St. Anthony to install Fr. Ivan Kalamuzi as our new pastor. We are so happy to welcome Fr. Ivan to our parish.

We are also so grateful to the many people who worked to make this celebration so meaningful and joyous. Thanks to EVERYONE who was involved!

Thanks to our Guatemalan Community for their service all around our campus to help spruce up our grounds and buildings.

Thank you Judy Dornbusch for being the photographer and creating the following video!