Homily
for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
20 September 2015
20 September 2015
This past week, I caught a little of the Republican
Presidential debate on CNN. There are some candidates that I like; others I
would hope would step aside. But through it all, and as I look at the candidates on both sides of
the fence, I’m not just looking to the best leader, but someone who reflects
what Jesus taught His disciples in today’s Gospel: I’m looking for someone who
will be a servant-leader.
What, then, is a “servant-leader”? It is a person who does not
lead because of power or prestige, but, rather, is a person who leads because,
at the heart of who he or she is, recognizes that the Christ in them must serve
the Christ in others. The servant-leader leads others to the common good and
the fulfillment of the Natural Law because they, themselves, have been led to
and sent from the Heart of Christ.
Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, is a wonderful example of what
it is to be a servant-leader. He has encountered Christ, found joy in that
relationship, and allows his life to be an invitation for others to encounter
the joy of the Risen Lord. He takes seriously his title of “Servant of the
Servants of God.” The Holy Father, by his teaching and lived example, seeks to
bring you and me – and, in fact, all of humanity – to serve each other with the
heart of Christ.
And that’s not only the example we need to follow, but is, in
fact, the example we are to show to others.
Pope Francis reminds us in his recent encyclical, Laudato Si’, that “when human beings
place themselves at the center, the give absolute priority to immediate
convenience and all else becomes relative” (LS 122). Not only is the Holy Father talking
about the care of creation, but is talking about how we interact with each
other as the human family. When you and I live a life that’s “all about me,” we
fail to lead others to the Heart of Christ; we fail in serving others in the
Name of Jesus Christ; we fail in leading others to the joy of the Risen Lord.
When you and I become servant-leaders, the words spoken in our
First Reading from the Book of Wisdom will come to life. We will be condemned;
we will be put to death. Because our society shuns the truth of Christ and the
Truth Who IS Christ, we will be mocked and we will be hated. Our society is one
that “places [human beings] in the center,” and we have become witnesses of our
own demise and downfall.
Yet the words of Wisdom also serve us not just as a warning,
but more so as a rallying cry for us to be faithful and faith-filled witnesses
of the Gospel. They should be for us words of inspiration to endeavor in our
fidelity to Jesus Christ and His Church. People will mock us, shun us and hate
us because we choose to lead others to Jesus Christ and serve in His Name and
His example. And while our society may condemn us, we strive for the
righteousness of God, cultivating His peace, as Saint James reminds us in our
Second Reading, for it is that peace
which a servant-leader brings forth to the world from the Heart of God.
When you look at yourself, when I look at myself, and we
contemplate our relationship with the Risen Lord, can we honestly say that
through our Christian service we lead others closer to Christ? Does our love of
God and neighbor enable us to use our thoughts, words and actions to bring others
to the truth Christ teaches through His Church? Or do we place ourselves in the
center of our existence, that we end up not only compromising the Church’s
teachings, but also our relationship with God and each other?
Thus weekend, we celebrate Catechetical Sunday. It is more
than just an opportunity to celebrate and appreciate those who mission to pass
on the Catholic Faith, but is also for each of us a reminder that, as
servant-leaders, we are charged by our life’s vocation and state of life to
teach and pass on the truths of Christ and His Church through our gifts and
talents, and by the way we live our lives.
We are also reminded on this Catechetical Sunday that our
teaching of and passion along of the Faith is not limited to what we do on this
parish campus or simply the programs we offer. We remember that parents are the
first and primary teachers of the Faith, and that their charge as
servant-leader is to bring their children closer to Christ – no matter how
young or old they may be. As your spiritual father, this is a charge I take
seriously towards you, my spiritual children. Nevertheless, what we do in our
Religious Education Program, our Catholic schools, youth ministry or adult
formation programs is only secondary to what is to be taught in the home. The “Domestic
Church,” as Saint John Paul II called it, is the first and primary environment
in which we encounter and Jesus Christ.
As a community today, we welcome the children among us. As we
heard in the Gospel, whoever receives a child in the Name of Jesus receives
Jesus, Himself. In welcoming the children in our midst, we welcome Christ,
Himself. And in welcoming Christ in this way, we are reminded that as
servant-leaders, we are called to become like Christ in the most child-like
fashion: We are called to become vulnerable. Vulnerability is not always a bad
thing. Children remind us that being vulnerable opens us up to being trusting,
dependent and open to the support and care of others. While our society has
become rather apathetic to the world around them, as servant-leader we understand
that the child-like vulnerability we embody allows us to be more empathetic so
that we may better lead others to the Heart of Christ. We welcome the children today,
for they are the servant-leaders teaching us what it means to be vulnerable, for
we are all dependent on God.
My brothers and sisters, in a few moments you and I will have
the opportunity to remind ourselves how vulnerable and dependent on God we
really are as we receive the gift of the Eucharist. In a few moments, we will
be reminded in the most intimate fashion of what it is to be a servant-leader
as we are led to the very Heart of God through the Most Blessed Sacrament. And
from His Heart we are sent to the world to serve and to lead our neighbors and
community closer to Christ.
As our nation once again enters the cycle to elect the next
president, I pray that whoever is chosen will have the heart of a
servant-leader, so that he or she may remind us of who we have been called to
be: People on a mission to teach and to lead others to the very Heart of God by
serving them through our thoughts, words and actions.
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Enjoy the journey . . .
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