By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted September 20, 2024

(See the readings for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Hurricane Katrina hit land almost 20 years ago. The devastation was massive; as was the relief effort. Natural and man-made disasters elicit responses of charity and service.

I read an article written in the aftermath of Katrina. The author was a prominent journalist and politician in the United Kingdom. “It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian,” he wrote. His point was that when there was a need for charity, service and aid in the face of human tragedy, that no matter what non-believers think, the response to these situations of great need was overwhelmingly from believers. He said, “notable by their absence were teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers’ clubs and atheists’ associations – the sort of people who scoff at religion’s intellectual absurdity.”

He also noted that it is an unavoidable conclusion that Christians “are the people most likely to take risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others.” He further commented that this type of care goes beyond disaster relief. “Civilized people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags, and — probably most difficult of all — argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment.”

He cites one example of the Little Sisters of the Poor who lived near him. They would regularly do the laundry of some of their elderly neighbors, because those neighbors could not do it for themselves. He concludes his thoughts by saying: “The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make them morally superior to atheists like me.” (cf. Roy Hattersley, “Faith Does Breed Charity,” The Guardian, September 12, 2005)

I’m not citing this article to make a comparison, as the author does, between the non-believer and the believer. What strikes me about this article is that someone from outside the life of faith is observing something that believers might not regularly recognize – that charity and service, which is so woven into our way of life that it seems natural, is actually quite extraordinary.

The call to sacrificial love and service lies at the heart of Christian discipleship. We follow in the Way of the One we acclaim Lord. Jesus teaches us what this love is about. We are formed in his love and by his love, to love others and to follow him on the path of life. Service is part of who we are.

The readings for Sunday’s liturgy remind us of this call. Jesus says: “If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” The lead up to this saying is important. First, he had been telling the disciples about his forthcoming passion, death and resurrection. Second, the disciples have been arguing about which one of them was the greatest.

In these two interchanges we can glean some important insights on life. Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection is central to everything he does and teaches. The disciples, at this point, do not fully grasp what he is saying. This is obvious from the arguing that follows. The disciples face a very human struggle with things like pride, ambition, self-interest and envy.

These traits can also be seen in the “wicked” referenced in the first reading from the Book of Wisdom. They are also referenced in the second reading from the Letter of James – “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.” The cross is the antidote to these and will need to be embraced by anyone who follows Christ Jesus. It is only when one empties himself that he truly becomes alive, that he truly becomes free.

So Jesus takes a little child, puts his arms around it and says: “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” He chooses a child for a particular reason. A child is a person, a person in need. The child has nothing to offer that would be considered great in the eyes of the world. Children are powerless. They own nothing on their own. They are dependent on their parents, or if they are orphans, on their family or the community, for love, for food, for clothing and shelter.

Jesus could easily have used, as he does elsewhere, a widow, an orphan, someone sick or lame or blind, someone with leprosy, someone grieving, or someone known as a public sinner, or a tax-collector. Recognizing these persons and seeing their needs before one’s own, and then responding to those needs, is an act of sacrificial love. This is one of the ways by which the disciple carries the cross with Jesus from suffering and death to resurrection and life.

The article I mentioned above identifies one of the hallmarks of Christian discipleship – that of love and charity – quite poignantly. The author however misses the one fundamental without which, or rather whom, nothing makes sense. He never mentions Jesus Christ.

The Christian boasts of nothing except the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Galatians 6:14). We follow in the Way of the Lord seeking to serve all in love. We seek, as Jesus taught us last week, to take up our cross and follow him; or as he teaches us this week, to be the last of all and the servant of all. Though none of us does this perfectly, many among us do it well.

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, Penndel, and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.