29th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024

 

Most Reverend José H. Gomez

Archbishop of Los Angeles

 

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

October 20, 2024

 

My brothers and sisters in Christ,^[1]

 

Before we reflect on our readings, I want to talk to you about a serious matter in the Archdiocese.

 

As you may have heard, this week we reached a settlement with men and women who suffered abuse from priests and others serving in the Archdiocese.

 

These are old cases, some of them more than fifty or sixty years old. But for the victims of this abuse, the pain and emotional harm can last a lifetime.

 

We are all deeply sorry for what they have suffered, and our hope is that this settlement will help them to find healing.

 

So let’s keep them in our prayers today, and all those who have suffered abuse.

 

As you know, we have many programs now to ensure safe environments in our parishes, schools, and other ministries. And because of these reforms, new cases of misconduct involving minors are rare. Thanks be to God for that, and for sure, we will remain vigilant.

 

As I said, let us especially keep in our prayers all of those who suffered as a consequence of this situation.

 

So now, getting into our readings today, we hear Jesus teaching his disciples about what it means to follow him. 

 

And he says: “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant … For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 

And as we heard, some of his disciples didn’t get it.

 

They were thinking about glory and honor and power.

 

But Jesus, in his gentle and loving way, corrects his disciples, he sets them straight. He says: “But it shall not be so among you.”

 

And he is speaking these words to all of us.

 

When we follow Jesus, when we decide to live our lives as Catholics, that means we take Jesus Christ as our model.

 

So for us, Jesus should be our mirror.

 

When we look at Jesus — when we examine how he acts, how he treats people, what he says and how he says it — we see who we are meant to be.

 

There’s a wonderful line in one of St. John’s letters. He says: “When the Lord appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”^[2]

 

That’s what it’s all about, that’s the purpose of our lives.

 

That’s why Jesus came into the world, that’s why he humbled himself to come down from heaven. He came down to share in our humanity, so that he could lift us up to share in his divine nature.

 

That’s also the message in the second reading of today’s Mass, from the Letter to the Hebrews.

 

As we heard: Jesus can “sympathize with our weakness.” He can understand our struggles and sufferings, he knows what we’re going through. Always.

 

And we see this on every page in the Gospels. Jesus knows what it’s like to work, he knows what it’s like to have a family and friends; to be tired and thirsty; he knows what it’s like to suffer and die.

 

And Jesus experienced all of that for our sake, to show us the way. That’s exactly what those disciples in the Gospel today didn’t understand.

 

So that’s our challenge, every day! To live like Jesus, to love like Jesus! To give our lives generously to serve others.

 

And it’s a beautiful way to follow, because that’s the way that Jesus lived and that’s the way we can find true happiness in our lives.

 

So in a practical way, love and service begin wherever we find ourselves. It begins in our homes, in our families, with our loved ones.

 

We need to love and serve the people that God puts in our lives, those who are closest to us. And it happens in just little acts of kindness, little sacrifices. And these little acts make a big difference in people’s lives, as we know, and also a big change in the quality of our relationships with one another.

 

Often the most beautiful service we can offer is to simply be present to other people, to listen, to pay attention, to spend time with them. It’s a little thing, but it makes a huge difference in the lives of the people that are around us — in our families, with our friends, at work in our relationships with other people.

 

So today, let us approach Jesus with confidence in the Holy Eucharist. Let’s ask him to give us the strength and grace to love and serve the people in our lives.

 

And also we are still in the month of October, which is the month of the Rosary, as we know. And that it is a wonderful way to pray and to grow in faith, praying the Rosary and meditating on the mysteries of the life of Christ.

 

Let’s ask the Mary our Blessed Mother, to guide us so that we will walk more closely in the footsteps of her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ and to grow, day after day, in our likeness to him.