Homily for Saturday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time

Mass for Saint Andrew Breakfast

August 26, 2023
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17
Psalm 128:1b-2, 3, 4, 5
Matthew 23:1-12

“Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field of anyone who will allow me that favor.” Gleaning is the practice of gathering the leftover pieces of grain that remained on the ground after the wheat was harvested. Gleaning was forbidden for the owners of the field because it was to be left behind for God who in His Providence would give it to the poor who in turn would gather it themselves. This action recognizes the priority of the poor in the eyes of God and everybody’s reliance upon God for their flourishing in life. It also speaks against the deadly sin of greed. It seems that greed dominates so many people and motivates many to ignore the needs of others and to sin in other ways.

The point of the Gospel reading for today is not that we should not use titles like “Rabbi” or “Father.” The point is more about the fundamental truth that offices in religious leadership have their basis in a response to God and in service to God and to His people beginning with the poor and those who have no one else to care about them. Religious leadership, including priesthood, is a service that requires one lead by example. The example that a priest is to offer is not so much of his own personality and talents. The example that a priest is meant to offer is that of one who has been called by Jesus and tries to live like Jesus by following the Ten Commandments and living the Eight Beatitudes as Jesus taught us by loving God and our neighbor. As leaders, priests must be willing to do joyfully what every Catholic is obliged to do. It is never a matter of the rules are for the people to follow, but not us.

Ruth is an excellent example of service and love for our consideration. Ruth’s husband has died. Instead of remaining with her own people as was the custom, Ruth recognizes that no one else is there to care for her widowed mother-in-law so Ruth travels to live and to care lovingly for her mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth herself would have been a poor outsider from the community, but she is willing to accept this in answering the call to care for Naomi out of selfless love. God uses everything and wastes nothing of our lives, including tough times, to draw us closer to Him and to bring about His will through loving and kind service – that places the good of other people before our own good. Christ, others, self, is the right order of those whom we should serve and whom we should love.

I have so many memories of good priests from my childhood. They were always attentive to the people who had no one else to care for them: the sick, the unemployed, the addict, those who had family members die and were mourning them, the discouraged. The example of these good priests prompted me to see Christ in them as they followed His example and prompted me to want to hear the same call and to follow Jesus. Jesus teaches us, “The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

St. Andrew Breakfast is a discernment event held for men in high school and college and includes Mass followed by breakfast, prayer, and conversation. The next St. Andrew Breakfast is scheduled for Saturday, September 9, 2023, at 8 a.m. at St. Patrick Cathedral. To RSVP or learn more, contact the vocations office at vocations@fwdioc.org.