Qualities for a Good Leader

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mal 1:14b-2: 2b.8-10; Psalm 131; 1 Tess 2: 7b-9.13; Mt 23:1-12


The Gospel text which the Church proclaims on the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time appears to be the climax of a series of conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus takes the behaviour of the latter as his main target of attack, discerning that, although the Scribes and the Pharisees presented themselves as the most pious among believers, yet their attitudes and behaviour revealed that their heart was far from pleasing to God. Furthermore, to the 10 Commandments which God had given to Moses as a moral guide for the people, the Scribes and the Pharisees had added a manifold of precepts and laws to ensure the strict observance of the Law of Moses – 613 in all!

The quality of any Christian community depends much on its religious leader/s. This theme emerges as central to the 12 Matthean verses which the Church posits for our meditation on this coming Sunday .

Everybody is aware that with the passage of time the number of priests and religious is gradually decreasing. The role of the laity within the Church has been brought to the foreground, not as a result of the decrease in priestly vocations but because Vatican Council II (1962-65) has ushered in a rediscovery of the unique value of the sacrament of baptism. Through this sacrament, the baptized are called to become disciples of the Lord, whereby they are called to take an active role in the mission of the Church. The laity even have a role to play in the way the Christian community is to be led and oriented. In fact, in many of our parishes, there are structures which create space for clerics and lay people together to discern how a particular community can develop and grow in a particular point in time in the light of the Word of God.

At this point it is good for religious leaders (be them cleric or lay) to ask themselves the meditative question: ‘what kind of leaders are we in today’s ecclesial community?’ Surely, we would not like to be like those in Jesus’ times. This means that we cannot direct our energies and focus merely on the external cult (liturgical celebrations, ministering of sacraments, etc.) because, although these are central to our faith, we can be caught up in the illusion that through such means alone we would be drawing people to God. Hence, the pastoral ministers as well as lay pastoral assistants must seek to posses two fundamental characteristics: (i) a passion for God, whereby his/her life must radiate a genuine and mature love for the Lord, and (ii) a compassionate love for all his/her fellow brethren, which entails being ready to show solidarity with everyone, especially the needy.

These two characteristics reveal a common element: it is love which pushes us forward. Where there is love, there is really no need for rules and norms telling us what we ought or ought not do. Somebody driven by mature love does what he has to do out of loving service to his brethren and actually does not need any law to regulate his behaviour. Perhaps it is in this sense that Saint Augustine said: “Love God and do what you want”.

Love changes everything ...!

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ex 22: 20-26; Salm 17; 1 Tess 1:5c-10; Mt 22:34-40

“Love alone matters. Love alone is everything.” These striking words constitute the spiritual testimony which Saint Therese of Lisieux (whose feast was celebrated on the first day of this month) left us. They reveal the very essence of Therese’s vocation: “In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be love ... my vocation is love” (“The Story of a Soul”). The theme of love is also central to the Matthean text which the Church proclaims on the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, which text convinces us that loving God and neighbor constitute the core of the Christian life.

“’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment.” The emphasis in this commandment of love lies on the totality expressed in the word “all” which is reiterated three times in one short phrase. It is interesting to note that the “heart” (in Greek: ‘kardia’) is the first to be mentioned in the list of three things with which we should love God. This is so because, in Scripture, the heart signifies the place from which our decisions emerge.

Perhaps it is not by coincidence that this Gospel episode is to be proclaimed on World Mission Sunday 2005! After spending five weeks with the Maltese Capuchin missionaries in Kenya last Summer, I saw with my own eyes how the missionaries are motivated by a genuine and mature love for Christ, a love which, as Therese puts it, “gives everything”! Yes, the missionaries really give up everything (their native land, their family clan, their people, their comfortable lifestyle, etc.) and like Christ offer themselves as “bread broken for the life of the world” (cf. Message of His Holiness Pope John Paul II for ‘World Mission Sunday 2005’). I reflected and realized that the missionaries radically put to practice the words which they pronounce at the moment of consecration: “Take and eat, this is my body ... take and drink, this is my blood” as well as Jesus’ affirmation that: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).
In this year dedicated to the Eucharist, their example helped me to understand better the "eucharistic" sense of the Chrisitan life. Their example of true and mature love (which involves many sacrifices!) I will always carry in my heart and strive to live it out in the concrete situations I find myself in. May the coming World Mission Sunday 2005 encourage us to spiritually assist the missionaries through our prayers and to ardently pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send more missionaries in his harvest for truly: “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few!” (Mt 9:37).

Transperency before God and our fellow humans

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 45: 1, 4-6; Salm 95; 1 Tess 1:1-5b; Mt 22:15-21

The theme of hypocrisy comes to centre stage in the Matthean Gospel text which the Church proclaims on the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Matthew informs us that, “the Pharisees went off and made a plan to trap Jesus with questions”. The verb “to trap” is not very common in the Gospels; indeed Matthew makes use of this verb to manifest the seriousness of the situation. Let us recall that it was something against Jewish law to attempt to “trap” somebody with questions.

The hypocrisy of the Pharisees is further brought into the limelight when they join forces with the Herodians against Jesus, when we know that the Pharisees and the Herodians were enemies of each other. The Pharisees observed the law to the letter and wanted the Jewish people to gain independence from Roman dominion. Indeed, they considered Ceasar as the one who had taken the place of God. As strict observers of the law, the Pharisees opposed the use of Roman money as these carried images of false gods on them.

On the other hand, the Herodians sympathized with the Romans and hence they profited from this situation. They had no religious or nationalistic interest but their sole aim was to get richer and gain more power. To reach these goals, they had to favour Rome. What they held common with the Pharisees was their hatred of Jesus.

In this Sunday’s narrative, we see that both the Pharisees and the Herodians thought they had succeeded to corner Jesus with an intriguing question: “Tell us … is it against our law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?” If Jesus had declared that they should pay their tribute to the emperor, they would have accused him of breaking Moses’ law, of collaborating with a pagan emperor, and of helping in propagating worship to the emperor. On the other hand, if Jesus’ answer to their question had been negative, the Herodians would have instantly reported him to the Romans accusing him of breaking the law and of instigating the people against Roman government.

Jesus slips away from their trap by asking for a coin. By doing so, he showed them that he carried no Roman coin and that he did abide by Jewish law which, as we already said in the above, prohibited the use of Roman money. When his enemies themselves took out a Roman coin, they manifested their hypocrasy as they showed themselves adhering to a system which they themselves described as oppressive.

When Jesus told them to pay to the emperor what belongs to the emperor, he was making it clear that it was good and necessary that they give their financial contribution for the benefit of the common good. But he also wanted to the drive the message home that if they had to give to the governor what they were obliged to give, then how much more should they do the same with God on whom all man’s life and existence depend. Let us remember that our faithfulness to civil government must enshrined within a wider context, namely that of total servitude to God.