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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B
Terrnuova Hermitage
November 11, 2012
To Become
Christ-Like
By (Rev. Msgr.)
Nicholas P. Amato
The
Consulate in Libya
We remember well that this past September some
Islamic militants stormed our American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Four Americans, including our United States
Ambassador, were killed. Since that
attack, our journalists have given us some insight into the challenging and
sometimes dangerous work of diplomacy.
Newspaper articles have focused on our
Ambassador in Benghazi, J. Christopher Stevens.
They portray him as personifying the best of our diplomatic corps.
Traits of Ambassador
Stevens
Ambassador Stevens is remembered as a person who
really gave of himself to his work, wherever he was.
He is described as a street-smart, low-key
negotiator. He knew how to get things
done by building personal relationships.
Those who served with him in other diplomatic
posts say that wherever he was living, he would let go of everything else and
live that culture completely. He gave of
himself to the people and the tasks that were present.
Ambassador Stevens had a passion for Arab
culture and politics. This began when he
was a Peace Corps volunteer and taught English in Morocco.
He spoke Arabic and would go out of his way to
use it. He would do this whether he was
with government officials or with ordinary shopkeepers in Libya, as a way to
show respect for their language and culture.
One quality that both his American and Libyan
colleagues recall was his ability to listen.
He never felt the need to monopolize a meeting or a conversation.
Ambassador Stevens sought out local merchants,
farmers and students, as well as diplomats, activists, and journalists. He had a deep desire to listen and understand
their perspective.
Our Secretary of State said that with his
ability to listen and his personal humility, he won many friends for our
country and he did that because,“he made these peoples’ hopes his own.”
Traits of the
Kingdom
It is not my goal to make a saint of Ambassador
Stevens. I imagine he was as human as you and I are. But I do think that his personal and
professional traits help to highlight what Jesus is saying in today’s Gospel.
Jesus lifts up the humility and generosity of
the poor widow in the temple. He also
puts down the self-absorption and self-importance of the Scribes.
He is teaching that we are like him when we
embrace the spirit of a servant. He
moves us to respect everyone as a son and daughter of God.
Jesus calls us to find our fulfillment in the
empathy and assistance we can extend to others.
He calls us to place the human needs of others who are less fortunate
than ourselves above our own wants and narrow interests.
He wants us to give of ourselves with the inner,
heartfelt, sincere generosity of the widow in the gospel. And, like that widow, he wants us to humbly
be with God in personal prayer and in worship here in church.
A Needed
Message
Jesus’ message in this little story is important for
us to hear.
Yes, it is a bit counter-cultural and perhaps
counter-intuitive, but it is so important.
If we try to embrace these qualities and live in
this way, our human self-centeredness will be kept in check. The prejudice or hostility we may have will
be softened.
We will find a satisfaction and completeness that we
can find in no other way. And most of
all, in the process we will become most God-like, most Jesus-like, and that is
our long-term mission in life.
