“Whoever seeks to be first among you
must be the servant of all.”
Most of you know I just got back last week from a pilgrimage
to Lourdes with the Order of Malta and with my sick brother.
It was a very powerful trip.
For those of you who do not know about the shrine at Lourdes,
it has been attributed with many miracles
and people have received thousands of healings over the years
since it first opened, well over 150 years ago.
What is amazing about Lourdes as a shrine
is that the roles are turned upside down in a sense.
It is a very powerful experience.
What I mean by that is that when you go into the shrine,
the shrine is in a locked-in, gated area.
It is a huge shrine, like 10’s of acres of land.
There are at least six churches on the property
and three of them are basilicas.
But once you go inside the shrine itself,
all those who are sick, elderly and infirmed are treated like royalty.
They are rolled in first.
Their wheelchairs are first.
When there is a Mass, the whole front section
is for all the infirmed, for the elderly and the weak.
And nobody argues with it.
And the wealthy and the rich sit at the back.
It is the exact opposite of our society
and it is something really powerful.
Not only does nobody argue with it,
it is accepted and encouraged.
Most of the people who typically go there, who are wealthy and rich,
are there to serve what they call the malades, the sick ones.
It is very, very powerful.
The Order of Malta does this each year when they go to Lourdes;
they bring the sick to Lourdes and it is a powerful witness of service.
This massive shrine largely runs on volunteers.
And these volunteers give of their time.
They do not just come from Lourdes and France,
they come from all over Europe.
And they volunteer their time week after week.
There is a group that touched my heart that is called
“Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes”
which is basically meand “the helpers of Our Lady of Lourdes.”
They go through a three-week training to volunteer.
And once they volunteer, they commit to volunteering
for a minimum of one week every year.
Otherwise, they have to start the training,
the three-week training, all over again.
It is amazing to see these men and women from all over the world.
They only thing they have on is the yellow shiny vest.
That is the only thing they wear.
And they have a tiny lapel button,
which has the image of the shrine and then the words,
“Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes.”
Incredibly humble people and incredibly kind and generous people.
I didn’t realize quite how powerful they were until
I, myself, fell sick on this Lourdes trip.
I got a GI virus and I was out for the count for several days
in the hotel bedroom, really the bathroom,
but it was a rough couple of days.
I was gaining the strength to try to go home.
I didn’t want to miss the flight because
it was a direct flight and I had really no strength.
I was there to help my brother, who was in his wheelchair
and it was just exhausting.
I was holding onto the wheelchair as much for myself
to stand up as it was to push him.
One of these Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes
saw me at the airport and came up to me and said,
“It looks like you need help?
Maybe you need a wheelchair yourself!”
I said, “No. I’m okay. I’m actually holding
onto the chair to stay up myself.”
And he says, “Well why don’t I push the chair
and you hold onto me”
So I held onto the chair as he continued to push
and he stayed with us until we got all the way through,
not just into Customs but beyond Customs
and actually all the way into the plane itself.
In conversation with this man, who had come from Holland,
I asked him, “How come you come from Holland?
That’s a long way to come.”
And he says, “Oh I come every year.”
I said “When did you first come?”
“I came about 18 years ago.
One of my close friends was suffering from MS and
asked me to take him to Lourdes.
And so I took him to Lourdes and
then somebody asked me to do this training
so I did the training. I’ve been coming back ever since.”
I pressed him further, “Why do you keep coming back?”
He said, “I don’t know why actually.
But there is something about this place that nurtures my soul;
there is something about this place
that really draws the best out of me.
And so I come back 3 or 4 weeks a year.”
Wow! That is powerful.
Also understand that they pay for themselves;
they pay for their own room and board
and they work 12 hours a day.
Anyway, that man touched my heart.
I was touched by his gentleness and kindness.
Now I really understand what it means to be humble;
be simple and to be loving.
And that is what we are called to, all of us, as Christians.
And that is what Jesus is talking about in today’s gospel.
In this gospel, his disciples are all pumped up.
They’ve got the Son of God with them and they are on fire;
they are excited about this new ministry that they’ve got.
And of course, the first thing is,
it seems to be with all of us human beings
but I think in America even more so than anywhere,
we are super competitive and we tend to say well, “Who’s the best?”
Competitive to the end. Right?
Who’s the best among us?
Who’s the best at preaching?
Who’s the best at this or. . .
You can almost hear them having that conversation.
And Jesus says, “No,you don’t understand.
The first among you will be the one who is the most humble.
The first among you is the one who is the servant of all.”
Now that is very foreign to our ears as Americans.
That is very hard for us to hear
because we are all about getting on top.
We are the first nation.
We are the best nation.
We are the best at this,
the best at that.
We are constantly lauding all those things.
And even inside our community:
we are the best at this
or best at that.
Not that that is bad in itself
but if we really believe that about ourselves
then we are fooling ourselves
because Christian discipleship, according to Christ,
is about humility and service.
How does that work out in our own lives?
I am not expecting you all to head off to Lourdes
and take 3 weeks of training and spend a couple more weeks over there
but can we look at the example Jesus gives us.
Jesus gives us the example of a child.
Why did he give the example of a child?
He gives the example of a child
because a child is considered the most vulnerable.
The child is completely dependent.
The child cannot take care of itself.
They are completely dependent upon their parents for safety;
for home; for food; and for everything.
So he takes the child as an example and says look,
this is how you treat one of these is how you treat me.
How you treat one of them is how you will come to know the Father.
Who is the child among us?
Maybe it is our children themselves;
and you take care of them and
parents who care for your children,
know that you are doing the work of the Lord.
Know that the work you do and
the kindness and the love you give to your child
or your grandchild is your discipleship.
So do it with joy.
And do it with grace and excitement,
knowing that you are living out the gospel.
That is your commandment.
That is your work of discipleship.
And for those of us who do not have children,
maybe we have to find another way.
Maybe the children here need to look at the elderly
and say that they need to treat them with kindness and gentleness
because they too are vulnerable; they too are dependent.
Yes, to children and the elderly
but also to those who are broken by homelessness or joblessness
or now we have a whole cadre of immigrants;
and no refugees who are coming.
Our hearts must be opened to them and be moved by their state.
And know that when we do that work,
we are working out our discipleship.
That is our discipleship but it must come out of service,
which must come out of humility,
which must come out of love and charity.
Today, as we come to the table to receive strength from the Lord,
and from each other, we come to do so to serve outside;
to be the servant of all
our children;
our elderly;
the homeless;
the broken;
the immigrant;
the refugee.
Today, we have come to be the servant of all.
