32nd
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B
November 11, 2012 7:30am and 9am
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
The Consulate in Libya
I am
sure we all remember that in 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.
Some
newspaper articles have especially 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 place 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 wanted 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. “He made these peoples’ hopes his own.”
Traits of the Kingdom
I do
not mean 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.
Jesus
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.
Jesus
wants us to give of ourselves with the inner, heartfelt, sincere generosity of
the widow in the gospel. And he wants
us, like that widow, 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.
It is a bit counter-cultural, maybe even counter-intuitive. But it is so important.
If we try to embrace these qualities and live 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 we will become most God-like,
most Jesus-like, and that is our long-term mission in life.
