25th Sunday
Ordinary Time

FOCUS:   If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.

Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel about being a servant to all are a reminder that the ways of the Lord are not the ways of the world. If we wish to be his disciples, we must have the courage to seek to understand God’s ways and strive to love him with all our heart, and to love one another with humility and compassion.  

What's in Your Heart

The Letter of Saint James says the wisdom from above manifests itself as pure, but who among us has totally pure motives for anything we do? The apostles sure didn’t, as they tried to elbow each other out of first place as greatest among Jesus’ followers. When we choose to do something that runs counter to our immediate desires, we can sometimes free ourselves from our desire’s grasp. We can also discover something we desire even more—the experience of God’s life flowing through our own life.

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• In my ministry, how have I seen people’s desires or passions being the source of conflict in my community? How have my own desires caused disorder?

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• In what ways do I try to work my way into being the “greatest” among the followers of Jesus? What helps me let go of that desire and open up to something else?

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• What have I learned about the difference between healthy ambition and selfish ambition?

Homily Stories

The small tourist town where I live was once a fairly significant port on Lake Michigan. It’s an old city—full of Victorian homes built during its commercial heyday more than a century ago. Many houses in town have historical plaques that tell a brief story of its inhabitants, and I noticed that most of those stories are about founding fathers, ship captains, and successful businessmen. Nary a woman is mentioned in any of them.

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I want a historical plaque for my old house, so I’m researching its history in the local newspaper archives. Its longest resident was a woman named Julia Noren, widowed in middle age, who raised three daughters in the house from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. She was a self-employed seamstress and a lifelong member of the Girl Scouts. There are many articles about the arts-and-crafts workshops she used to hold in this house for anyone to attend. I love the photos of ribbons and fabric everywhere in my living room! The birthday parties she threw for others also made the papers. I think her legacy of humble handiwork and hospitality is just as worthy to memorialize as the pillars of the community, so thanks to Julia, my house will have the most unique historical plaque in town.

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Jennifer Tomshack