Readings:
Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
Psalm 68
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a
Luke 14:1, 7-14
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My dear friends the message from our Gospel today could not be any more clear, be humble. This event in Jesus’ life paints a scene, which, in many respects, summarizes the entire life of Jesus, who after his humble death on the cross was raised to his throne in heaven; “the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” You can just imagine this vivid and lively party going on and it’s at the time to move from the social cocktail hour to the dinner table. Jesus is there observing the actions of everyone carefully and you can just kind of see his wheels turning as a great opportunity to teach about humility unfolds. It would be fair to say that humility is one of Jesus’ favorite virtues and so we should be attentive today to what humility is all about. Why is humility important? Why does it come up all over the scriptures, just think about how many times Jesus shows a divine preference for the humble; ‘the sick over the healthy, those who lack over those who have, the oafish fisherman as Apostles rather than the sophisticated scribes, the nerds to the in-crowd, the sinner to the self-righteous; why is humility so prized by Jesus?’
Ultimately, humility puts us in a posture that allows us to be receptive to the divine life of God. As St. Augustine once observed, “If you ask me what are the ways to God, I would tell you the first is humility, the second is humility and the third is humility …”. Humility puts us in the right place to receive eternal life. If you’ve ever studied European history you might recall the country of Austria, which for a period of time held a very strong empire. When the king of the Royal Family from Austria passes away there is a special ritual used before the funeral. When the casket reaches the doors of the Church, the guard would knock and a priest would ask: “Who desires admission here?” The guard would respond: “His apostolic majesty, the Emperor.” The priest would answer: “I do not know him.” The guard would knock a second time and announce the deceased to be the highest emperor. Again, the response from the priest was, “I do not know him.” Finally, a third knock would provoke the same question from the priest: “Who desires admission here?” Then the answer would be: “The deceased is a poor sinner, your brother!” Then the door of the church would be opened. In the end, it will not be our great achievements in life that prepare us to receive God’s blessings but rather our humble disposition before the Lord.
So that sounds simple enough doesn’t it? Be humble, receive heaven. My dear friends we all know from our own experience that humility doesn’t come as easily as we would like it to. This is part of the reason why Jesus preached it so much, because being humble is difficult. In our culture today I want to identify for you three major enemies that make it difficult to live a humble life. Once we know the enemy its always easier to fight! Pride, Pragmatism, and Personal Rights.
Public enemy number one to humility … pride. Pride is the exact opposite of humility. Whereas humility creates space for God and others, pride fills up all space with yours truly. Pridefulness is an over exaltation of human ability leaving no wiggle room for grace to break into our lives. Remember our Gospel from today, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted”. Declare war on pride in your own life for it is always better to humble ourselves than to be humbled by another.
Pragmatism. In the United States we are a very pragmatic people, that means, we are rather practical, sensible and realistic, we know how to get things done, we are task-oriented and feel everything is possible through sweat, work, and effort; we are pragmatic. Everyday I have my to-do list of items and I love checking them off knowing that I got things done. But if I were to exaggerate that list too much, if I stressed too much in my life over getting things done by my effort and will I will soon stifle humility in my life. Yes, God wants our work and our effort but as remind Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house in vain does the laborer build.” Arch Bishop Dolan of New York once said, (quote) “We are not defined by what we do, how much we earn or produce, or what we achieve, but by who we are, and we are usually closest to God when we are weakest, emptiest, and lowest.” So don’t be afraid to admit you can’t do everything on your to-do lists, to do so takes humility.
Finally, the third enemy, personal rights. In the United States we are grateful for the gift of personal rights that offers us so many freedoms that others do not enjoy and lets not forget that the Church through out the centuries has championed for human rights and rightly so for our leader, Jesus Christ, was the world’s most forceful defender of such. When I say that personal rights are an enemy to humility I do not speak of this American treasure but rather about that attitude, that disordered attitude, that leads us to believe we need to get our due, that we are owed something and deserve special treatment because of who we are, what we’ve done, or what has happened to us. This train of thought only leads one to feel sorry for themselves; to cower over and lick their own wounds. But humility enables us to admit that in the long run we don’t deserve anything at all and yet we have a God who has been so generous to give us life and has given us everything we could want from this life through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Okay, so we know humility’s important, it helps us get to God. We know what enemies to fend off to create a healthy environment in our hearts, but how do we water humility so that it really takes root and grows in our life? How do we, so to speak, exercise our humility muscles?
I think we need to remember that humility is a chosen virtue … what I mean by that is we have to actively consent to living in a humble way before the opportunity to be humble comes. Humility doesn’t come in individual acts, but rather is a disposition towards how we handle situations in our lives. Thus, we must actively choose to put ourselves in a humble attitude. When I was beginning my third year of seminary in Rome the whole issue of humility really came to a head for me. I was on silent retreat with a fantastic spiritual director who was helping me move deeper into my heart. In doing so together we encountered that inside of me there was a real deep temptation of spiritual pride, that of looking down upon others because they did not dedicate their lives to Christ as much as I thought they should. After one of our meetings my spiritual director asked me a random question, “Does the name Eric mean anything to you?” I stopped in utter surprise. He continued, “The Lord keeps asking me to pray for Eric.” As I looked at him with utter disbelief I told him that Eric is the name I took at confirmation. There was no way he knew that name. I continued to tell him that the Holy Spirit would probably ask you to pray for Eric during this time, because while I am very proud to have the name Jacob I have been ashamed that I chose Eric as my confirmation name and not some more well known saint, more heroic, or what have you. So my spiritual director said when I pray today to pray as if I was Eric as a way to stir up in my heart a more humble disposition. Since then if ever I feel a lack of humility I will pray as Eric instead of Jacob. Humility is a virtue we grow in by first choosing to actively live it out before the opportunity to be humble comes.
In that humility I was able to become more myself. I was free to accept who I truly was rather than grasp at what I wanted to make myself out to be. This is the primary gift of a life of humility here on earth it frees us from the need or compulsion to wear a mask and pretend to be someone else we are not. Humility puts us in a posture that allows us to be the true sons and daughters of God the Father we are, which is the blessing he gave us in Baptism and wishes to bring to fulfillment at the end of our lives.
Keep in mind, my dear friends, humility is not a microwavable virtue, put it in, push the button and its ready to go in two minutes. It is more like a crock-pot, it takes time, you have to let it brew, stew, be seasoned, mellowed, for hours, then its good to go. Humility cooks in the crock pot of silent prayer before the Lord, especially before the Eucharist in adoration. Sometime this week take an extra half hour out of your schedule and come here to the Church and pray before the Eucharist, or come on Friday for Eucharistic Adoration to season that virtue of humility.
In the more immediate moment here at the Mass prepare your heart well to receive your God in the Eucharist today. Listen to the prayers over the Eucharist with attentiveness. Before you receive Jesus in the Eucharist you bow your head as an act of humility, and when you receive our Lord in your hands or on your tongue let those words you spoke just moments before echo in your heart, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive but only say the word and I shall be healed.”
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