10 March 2020 - Tuesday of the 2nd week of Lent - Matthew 23:1-12

      We have heard the message of today’s Gospel many times.  We know that Jesus calls us to be a servant, not to exalt ourselves and to brag about being the greatest.  This message that Jesus brings us today is so different from what we see in our secular world today, where reality TV stars are famous for being famous, who flaunt being wealthy and influential, who use their fame to lift themselves up, not to serve. 

      Today’s message brought to my mind a saint I recently read about by American Jesuit priest John Dear.  St Alberto Hurtado was born to a poor family in Chile in 1905.  He was educated by the Jesuits in Chile and followed his dream of becoming a Jesuit priest himself.  His used his priesthood to help others and to challenge the people of Chile to serve others as well.  He at first became the national director of Catholic Action in Chile, an organization that mobilized the faithful to help those most in need.  He later founded Hogar de Cristo, the House of Christ, one of Chile’s largest social service organizations that help the poor and the needy.   When I was on Chile on a fellowship, I actually went out with some workers from the Hogar de Cristo as they visited the homeless at night while I was studying in Chile with a group teachers in 2002.  Hurtado was inspired by a quotation of St Augustine’s, which stated: if times are bad, then let us better ourselves, and then the times will be better, for we are the times.  He gave Hogar de Cristo a mission “to give a roof to homeless beggars, food for their stomachs, education, and, if possible, work that helps them escape their terrible misery.”  Although Hurtado died in 1951 at the young age of 46, his legacy of service lives on.  Our call to servant cannot only change us, but it can change others and change the world.