MAKE THE COMPARISONS

 

Today  (January 20,2025). is the inauguration of the President of the United States This is a  world leader with power and influence. I want you to make some comparisons here between political/financial power and the power within Christian leadership.

 

All leaders, from the local school principal to the heads of all the major countries of the world, convey a great deal of truth about themselves and their values by their actions; whom they associate with and what kind of music they will use and what kind of foods they will eat. For all leaders, their actions speak louder than their words.

 

Leaders set the tone! You may have difficulty putting it into words but you sure can feel it. If you have any doubt about setting the tone for a community, country or a family, just think of your mother. Now, that was a person who set the tone in the family you grew up in! She may not have spoken much but her influence was felt by everyone; even the family cat knew how to behave in the house!

 

In the inauguration in Washington, count the number of billionaries who were invited. And count if there were any poor, working people, house cleaners and the pickers of vegetables, who were invited. 

 

Bring your memory back to 2013 when Pope Francis was elected pope (a world leader with some very powerful influence). Shortly after the election and installation, his first trip was to the little island of Lampedusa. This is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea where the migrants and refugees gather as they try to make entry into Europe. These are not the rich  and the powerful. They are the marginalized and unwanted people of the earth. 

 

Was Pope Francis trying to win favour in high places? Earn more money? Make more friends with the rich and the powerful?

 

And then, for his living accommodations he choose to live in a two room apartment in the guest house at the Vatican. What world leader (of CEO of a large corporation) lives in such a humble abode?

 

In one of his first talks, the first image he uses for the Church is not the ‘Body of Christ’ or the ‘Powerful sign of Salvation.’   He uses the image of a ‘field hospital.’ Now a field hospital is in a tent. It is set up to care for the wounded in battle or it is set up to care  for the wounded after an earthquake or hurricane. A field hospital is meant to care for the poor, the wounded and the unwanted. What does the image of a field hospital communicate?

 

Actions speak much louder than words. Spend some time making comparisons between the Washington inauguration and the actions of Pope Francis. What does the world and the Church have to learn here?  What values of Christianity is Pope Francis making explicit? What can we learn here  and make part of our civic and personal lives!