This is where I will set the soles of my feet. Ezekiel 43:7
The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:12
Piety
Let us pray: Jesus, thank you for coming to walk with us. Help us to recognize you in our midst on our proverbial walk to Emmaus. Strike from us any sense of pride so that we can be more like you – a leader showing us the way, the truth and the life through the eyes of a humble Jewish carpenter. Deliver us from evil and grant us peace today. Amen
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/082606.shtml
In the first reading, Ezekiel shares his vision of the angels telling how God will be humbled and will walk on earth with his children. Paired with this is the familiar Gospel story of Jesus once again at odds with the Pharisees. He warns the disciples to do as they say, not as they do because of their false piety. As related by St. Matthew, Jesus forbids not only the titles like Rabbi, Master and Father, but also the spirit of superiority and pride that is shown by the acceptance of such titles.
This is just the latest example of Jesus was turning the tables figuratively and literally on the power structure and the powerful people of society in his day.
Today, we not only encounter the power structure at work, but in all our associations. From the PTA president to the CEO, from the airport security guard to the head of the Northern Virginia Swim League, hierarchies are all around us. Many times if we want to serve, it won’t be long until we also are asked to lead either a committee or the whole organization.
How should we handle such positions? Ezekiel and Matthew points us to the path to servant leadership. They outline a humble leader who cares for his children so much so that he will walk among them rather than expect them to bow down to the leader’s wishes. Such a leader won’t ask people to do what the leader will not do herself or himself.
Even further, Jesus doesn’t just want to walk with us, he wants to be within us…to dwell in our very bodies, minds, hearts and souls. When we open our world and our selves fully to Jesus, we will see the words of the Psalm come to life:
Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.
Action
Servant leaders are leaders who listen. This week, there was news of a significant step in Boston by one of the true emerging servant leaders of the Church. Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley recently met with the leaders of the group Voice of the Faithful for a discussion. Voice of the Faithful is a reform group that began in Boston when the clergy scandal of 2002 began to break. It now claims 30,000 members nationwide yet is banned in some diocese, including Boston, from meeting in parishes.
The dialogue was significant not only for its content which has been reported in some Catholic news services, but also because it happened at all. Cardinal O’Malley has shown a strong example of a leader who is not afraid to meet with some of his areas most vocal critics.
Ten years after Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and others founded the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, we are facing the need for more dialogue, not just debate on critical issues like immigration reform, the death penalty and more. “Listening has to be an essential ingredient in relationships within the church, just as it must be in all healthy relationships,” according to Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M. speaking in Chicago recently and quoted in the National Catholic Reporter.
“The past 10 years have given me a privileged place where I have met people, some with very critical views of the church, who yet possess a passionate regard and deep love for the church,” he said. “I have come to respect them and have concluded that they are critical precisely because they love that church family to which they belong,” according to the text released by Catholic News Service.
Listening is the necessary foundation for relationships with God and one another, Ramirez said. “Real listening is one of the greatest gifts we can give to another person. Listening is healing; it establishes lasting relationships; it gives substance to words of love and friendship; it heals and allows us to grow in our knowledge of ourselves, of others and of God.”
Where is there room for listening in your servant-leadership life? What critics do you have to sit down and meet with?
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