Homily for the Vigil of the Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

September 21, 2024
Mass for Young Adults
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Wisdom 2:12, 17-20
Psalm 54:3-4, 5, 6, 8
James 3:16-4:3
Mark 9:30-37

Paragraphs 4-5 are in Spanish; English resumes in paragraph 6.

The reading from the Book of Wisdom today lets us hear the thoughts of the wicked. They devise ways to attack and persecute the just person for opposing them and bringing to light their wickedness; so, they torture and condemn the just to see if God will protect them. “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him.” The just one is a cause for their own insecurity and fear and they resent him as an adversary.

That the just are protected and blessed by God was a central belief of the Jewish people in Jesus’ time as it remains today. Yet, this confuses us as it did the Apostles because Jesus is the perfectly just person who is delivered into the hands of the wicked and put to death. The Gospel reading for today is the second time that Jesus predicts this will happen to Him as recorded in the Gospel of Saint Mark. The disciples who believe that Jesus is the Messiah cannot understand how God will let this happen to Him.

Their lack of understanding is prompted by their fear and insecurity. The Apostles are arguing with each other about who is most important among them. At least they know enough to be embarrassed when Jesus asks about their conversation. It is part of our human insecurity born of original sin to want to be seen and recognized, to be praised and honored, but Jesus is clear that things do not work in that way for His followers. They must give of themselves with humility. In a kind and gentle way, Jesus calls attention to their misunderstanding.

Si quieres ser el primero, tienes que ir al final de la fila, ser el último y servir a todos. Con esta frase, el Señor inicia una inversión: da un vuelco a los criterios que marcan lo que realmente cuenta. El valor de una persona ya no depende del papel que desempeña, del éxito que tiene, de la fama o belleza, del trabajo que hace, del dinero que tiene en el banco; no, no depende de eso; la grandeza y el éxito, a los ojos de Dios, tienen otro rasero: se miden por el servicio. No por lo que se tiene, sino por lo que se dona. ¿Quieres sobresalir? Sirve. Este es el camino de la vida autentica.

En verdad, este punto sirve como una descripción por la vocación del matrimonio entre un hombre y una mujer. Es un sacramento y una vocación que se envuelve el principio del servicio como el idioma del amor entre los esposos. Esto empiece cuando el hombre y la mujer son novios. Según las palabras del Papa Francisco, “Hoy en día la palabra ‘servicio’ parece un poco descolorida, desgastada por el uso. Pero en el Evangelio tiene un significado preciso y concreto. Servir no es una expresión de cortesía: es hacer como Jesús, que, resumiendo su vida en pocas palabras, dijo que había venido ‘no a ser servido, sino a servir’. Así dijo el Señor. Por eso, si queremos seguir a Jesús, debemos recorrer el camino que Él mismo ha trazado, el camino del servicio.”

Jesus reminds the Apostles that greatness in His Kingdom is the opposite of greatness in the world. Being great means being the servant of the needs of others whom we should regard as more important than ourselves. This teaching on the true nature of greatness follows upon Jesus’ second prediction of His passion and death. Then to emphasize that lesson, He calls a child to join them. In the ancient world, children were treated as possessions, and they possessed no rights except those that were granted to them by having status in their father’s household. Since they were not fully mature, they were considered not fully human, the lowest level of the human community. They are examples of the lowliest and least, the needy and rejected whom we must serve to be great in Jesus’ Kingdom.

It is not coincidental that in our post-Christian culture, children have returned to a status of belonging only as property or possessions that are prized only on the contingency of their mother’s choice to give birth and their father’s choice to be involved in their lives. It is essential to our Christian life and discipleship to recognize the unique status of children in Jesus’ Kingdom and of our responsibility to treat them accordingly by our own words and actions and by ensuring their right to life and protection from predation. In a certain sense, the breakdown of our culture’s appreciation for children coincides with the refusal to accept the obligations and vocation of marriage and family life among young adults today. Young men and women are afraid to enter into marriage.

Pope Benedict XVI observed the difference between Jesus’ mindset and that of the Apostles as displayed in today’s Gospel passage, “This is the logic of Christianity, which responds to the truth about man created in the image of God, but at the same time contrasts with human selfishness, a consequence of original sin. Every human person is attracted by love — which ultimately is God himself — but often errs in the concrete ways of loving; thus, an originally positive tendency but one polluted by sin can give rise to evil intentions and actions.”

Young adults are offered the grace and have the responsibility to pray with discernment for the vocation of matrimony, thereby involving God in the search and openness for the right husband and wife. It is especially important for young men and women not to compromise about their Catholic faith when engaged in courtship because one’s Catholic faith is a part of who you truly are as a person. To minimize the importance of your Catholic faith is to deny who you truly are and who God has called you to be. Issues about the integrity of your Catholic faith and its moral practice, including the openness for the gift of children in married life, must be addressed early in a relationship and not to be delayed until after marriage.

It is understandable that in today’s society many young adults would have fears about entering marriage, given all of the problems we read about in our media. Yet, Christ assures us that the selflessness of the love He offers in the Sacrament of Matrimony is precisely the path towards conquering the fears of this world. Letting go of fear and of ambition for possessions, power and recognition, and desires that offer us a false security is our first step toward a place in Christ’s Kingdom founded on His love expressed through the Cross. True greatness is given when we recognize that our lives have never been our own but belong to Christ present in ourselves and most vividly in the gift of self through a sacramental marriage and the vocation to family life. When we let go of these fears and ambitions, we can approach the altar for Holy Communion with the confident words of today’s responsorial psalm, “The Lord upholds my life.”