31st Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
November 5, 2023

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

As I was saying, we are happy to be joined today by the members of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, who are celebrating the 100th anniversary of this important apostolate, which seeks to promote women’s leadership in the Church and in society.

So, we pray for their intentions today in this Holy Mass, and we pray that more and more women are empowered to live out their authentic vocation in the Church, what St. John Paul II called “the feminine genius.”

So thank you for being with us and thank you for your ministry here in the archdiocese.

And as we turn to our readings, we continue the story that has been playing out over the last several weeks in our Sunday readings.

As we recall, Jesus has been dealing with the religious authorities of his time. The authorities are testing him, trying to get him to make a mistake, so they can cancel his ministry.

So, today in our Gospel, we hear Jesus responding to their comments.

He says, as we just heard, that the authorities with not practicing what they preach, not helping people to follow the teachings of God, but instead imposing God’s teachings as “heavy burdens, hard to carry.”

And Jesus concludes that “all their works are performed to be seen,” and “they love places of honor … and greetings in the marketplace.”

In other words, Jesus is saying that these religious leaders have failed, they set themselves above the people they served.

We hear the same concerns in the first reading, from the prophet Malachi.

My brothers and sisters, this is always the temptation of leadership, whether it’s leadership in the Church, or leadership in our homes, or in our workplaces, or in society.

We all are tempted to think that because we hold this position, we are somehow superior, that somehow we know more than others, or that we are holier, or that we don’t have to play by the same rules as others.

And Jesus gives us these beautiful words in today’s Gospel: “The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

And what Jesus is saying is that we shouldn’t be looking for praise and honor from others. To be a leader, to be his disciple, we must be humble.

And humility begins in recognizing that we are all children of God. We may be called to different responsibilities in the Church or in our daily life. But we are equal in dignity.

In God’s eyes, we are all his sons and daughters, made in his image and likeness and we are called to love one another in the family of God.

So my dear brothers and sisters, we have a duty, as Catholics, to practice what we preach and to be a good example to those around us. People should be able to see the difference our faith makes in our lives — in how we think and act, in how we live and how we treat others.

In the second reading today, St. Paul gives us a beautiful picture of his own ministry, we see how much he loved the people he was called to serve.

I think it would be useful for us to listen to his words again.

As we just heard: “Brothers and sisters: We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.”

This is, my dear brothers and sisters, what humility looks like “in action.”

It is the tender love of a parent for a child, the love of a brother or a sister.  It means giving everything you have in order to bring the love of Jesus into the lives of others. It means, as St. Paul says so beautifully, sharing “our very selves.”

Jesus calls each one of us to have this same attitude for the people he puts in our lives.

And always, and in everything, Jesus is the model for everything he teaches us. What he is asking of us, is nothing more than what he did for us.

Jesus was the Son of God and yet he humbled himself to become the Son of Mary, he came among us, not to be served, but as one who serves.

He humbled himself so much out of love for us, that he offered his life for us on the cross, so that we might be “exalted,” lifted up to share in his divinity.

And in every Eucharist, Jesus humbles himself again, to come to the altar and to give himself to us as bread and wine — to be our food, to sanctify and transform us.

So my dear brothers and sisters, today as we receive our Lord in the Eucharist, let us renew our desire to follow Jesus in his way of humble service.

As Jesus humbled himself to die for us, let us humble ourselves to bring his love to everyone we meet, sharing not only his Gospel but our very souls!

And may our Holy Mother Mary help all of us by her prayers to be humble as she was humble.