25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Homecoming

          To echo Sister Joan’s remarks before Mass, I would like to welcome all of those who are joining us for this Homecoming weekend, particularly our alumni and especially the members of the class of 1968.  It has been a weekend full of celebration, between the student pep rally on Friday, the various alumni gatherings Friday and Saturday, the Killer Bee 5K and “Bumble Rumble,” the “Taste of Ambrose,” the beautiful weather, and the football game – which we won!  I think it is only fitting that, in a sense, it all culminates here, as we gather as Ambrosians in this setting to give thanks to God for the many ways that St. Ambrose University has been and continues to be a blessing to us.  And so, again, welcome!

          I am always struck by just how thick the disciples of Jesus can be at times.  And here I mean specifically “the Twelve.”  Last week in the Gospel (just a chapter before the verses we heard today) Jesus explained to them already once that He would have to “suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed.”  He then went on to say, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”  And then in the passage we heard today Jesus explains to them once again that He must be “handed over to men and [that] they will kill him.”  No sooner has He said this, it seems, and His closest friends and followers are bickering among themselves about who is the greatest.  It is as though they were not even listening.  Now, I don’t mean them any disrespect.  They are, after all, the first followers of Jesus and in time also those first “apostles” – those “sent out” – to preach the good news.  We know that eventually, they do get it, as they lay down their own lives in witness to Jesus and for the sake of the Gospel that He preached.  But it is still amazing to me how they could hear their master say these things and yet somehow not have it register in their minds (at the time) that this included them – that to be “first,” one must be last; that “to lead is to serve.”

          Of course, we always have to be careful not to be too critical of “the Twelve,” because I think one to the main functions their portrayal in the Gospels serves is precisely to hold a mirror up to ourselves, to reflect our own (at times) foolish or ambitious or impetuous attitudes.  If we are really honest with ourselves, we can often hear ourselves in them.

          But the portrayal of “the Twelve” in the Gospels is also very encouraging in the sense that in them we see that indeed Christ came to call sinners; that He has not made absolute moral perfection a prerequisite to following Him.  Were this the case, it would be a very small Church.  In fact, the Church would not exist at all.  No, if anything, it is quite the opposite.  We come to Jesus precisely in our weakness, in our brokenness, with our faults and failings and flawed attitudes, and Jesus, over time, teaches us a new way.   To use some of that language from our second reading, from the Letter of James, we come with our jealousies and our selfish ambitions, but Jesus teaches us that wisdom from above that this “first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits without inconstancy or insincerity.”  He shows how to sew that peace – with God, self and neighbor – that will begin to bear fruit in true righteousness.  And so, we should not be overly critical of the disciples or of ourselves.  We are, as those first disciples and apostles were, very much “works in progress” while we live and breathe.

          This past week many members of the faculty and staff here at the university participated in several workshops with a firm hired by the university to help us say more clearly who we are at our best as an institution in order to more effectively market ourselves to potential students who are looking for us.  I have to admit, when I signed up for these workshops I thought, “Great. Two two-hour meetings about marketing.”  But to my surprise and shame, I found them to be a lot less boring than I had anticipated.  In fact, they were actually a lot of fun.  On the first day, we were broken into smaller groups and poured over lists of adjectives and “personality profiles” to rank.  The next day we were again broken into small groups and given another set of adjectives to rank in importance, and then to define for ourselves.  Then, we were asked why those qualities were important to us as a university, and finally to draft from those “why” statements a kind of “preamble” – a “We the people” statement – that reflected our values and mission based on the adjectives we were given.

          It was very interesting to see both the variety of values that people felt were central to this university, as expressed in each group’s “preamble,” but also to see where there was clearly great unity of vision.  This speaks well, I think, of who we have been as a university and to our faculty and administration for their “staying on message” about who we are over these past 136 years since our founding.

          But I mention all of this because I think (at least from what I observed) one of those core values that stood out in this collaborative process was that of service.  At some level, though in many different ways and with many different words to describe it, it was clear that the faculty and staff of St. Ambrose have a strong sense that we do not exist for ourselves.  Rather, we exist to serve others – first our students and through them our community and – it would not be too bold to say – the world.  That should make us proud, and not in just the typical way that we are “proud” of our alma mater on a Homecoming weekend, but in a much more profound sense – knowing deeply who we are and who we are called to be.  If we truly want to be the “best,” to be “number one,” then as Jesus reminds us, we must strive to be the “servant of all.”  And I believe that we will be “successful” (in no mere worldly sense of that word) to the degree that we continue to embrace this.  We have more to do in this area – there will always be more we can do to be better servants – but after participating in these sessions this past week, I have to say I am very heartened and I think we are on firm footing going forward.

          It will be very interesting to see what the student input will be, as they are now asked to participate in sessions like these in the coming weeks.  Students, I highly encourage you to participate if you are able.  And then, finally, it will interesting to see what will ultimately come out of this whole process.  But it is clear, at least to me, that there is much for which we should be grateful and good reason for our hope as we look to the future.

          And so, sisters and brothers, fellow Ambrosians, let us again pledge ourselves today to be students of that wisdom that is from on high, to desire it, to seek it, to live it, to teach it – “In anyone wishes to be the first, [that person] shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”