Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Isaiah 7:10-14; Luke 1:26-38)

The first reading obviously finds fulfilment in the gospel.  Isaiah says that a virgin will conceive and bear a son whose name will be Emmanuel (i.e., God with us).  In the gospel, Mary, a virgin, miraculously conceives the Son of God.  This comparison teaches that Jesus’ birth was planned through the ages.  There is also in the two readings an enlightening contrast.

Ahaz pretends to be pious king who would never demand anything from God.  Actually, he was an infidel who refused to trust in the messages of God’s prophet Isaiah.  On the other hand, Mary submits herself to God’s will as it is related to her by the angel.  Quite humbly, she calls herself God’s handmaiden or servant.  More importantly, she assents heartily to the divine summons. “Be it done to me,” she says, “according to your word.”

Humility is the fertile soil from which love grows.  We cannot love God if we foolishly consider ourselves as His equals.  We cannot love another person if we think of ourselves as better than she or he.

Monday, March 6, 2023

 Monday of the Second Week of Lent

(Daniel 9: 4b-10; Luke 6:36-38)

When asked how he was doing, an old priest typically responded, “Better than I deserve to be.”  Such a remark might be made as a dodge or a deception.  However, from this priest, it probably conveyed humility.  The readings today recommend this virtue.

The passage from Daniel communicates a rare communal confession.  The prophet recognizes the sins of injustice and idolatry committed by his nation.  In the gospel Jesus presumes that his disciples carry sinful baggage.  He tells them that if they hope to be freed of it, they must acknowledge that they are no better than others.

Humility and mercy go hand and hand.  When we recognize ourselves as no better than others, we can readily forgive others’ faults.  Like the old priest mentioned above, we should not deceive ourselves in thinking we are better than others.  Even if we have been able to live relatively good lives, there is a commonness about sin that make relative differences negligible.

Sunday, January 29, 2023

 FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, December 29, 2023

(Zephaniah 2,3.3,12-13; I Corinthians 1,26-31; Matthew 5, 1-12ª)

Few people want to be saints. Most think of holiness as boring. They say that they would rather be cheerful and adventurous as if there were no very cheerful and adventurous saints. One thing for sure is that Jesus has taught that one cannot enter the Kingdom of God without being holy. He has called the whole world to holiness. That is why a famous Catholic author once said: "The only tragedy in life is not to become a saint."

The beatitudes of today’s gospel serve as a description of holiness. They are placed at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount to indicate the goal of Christian morality. The saints are "poor in spirit." They “mourn” over their sins and the sins of others. They are also meek, long-suffering, or humble, depending on the translation of our Bible. These first three beatitudes show that holiness is rooted in humility. Contrary to our way of thinking, poverty of spirit is not a lack of self-esteem. Rather, it is recognizing ourselves as sons and daughters of God, the Father, ever confident of his protection. Once a missionary visited a village in the mountains of Honduras. Because it was the day after Christmas, he asked the campesino children about their Christmas presents. Each responded that his present was a gift for the infant Jesus, not what he received from Santa Claus. They told how they would pray more to Jesus or pay more attention to their household chores. This is true "poverty of spirit."

Saint Augustine recognized the paramount importance of humility when he wrote: "If you asked me what are the ways of God, I would tell you that the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is humility." In other words, if we do not cultivate humility, we are lost. Saint Paul would agree. In the second reading he exalts humility as God's strategy to save the world. He says that God did not choose the rich and educated but the weak to show the power of the cross of Christ.

In addition to gaining eternal life through humility, we can give other reasons to humble ourselves. The most significant is that we are imitating Jesus. As Paul writes to the Philippians, the Son of God emptied himself of divinity to assume the human condition. Also, humility fosters cooperation between people. In a famous speech from a Shakespearean drama, King Henry V of England won the support of his troops by speaking to them with humility. They were far outnumbered by the enemy, but because he called them his “brothers”, they prevailed. Finally, we want to be humble because it is very possible that the other person is more accomplished than us. We have all had the experience of misjudging another person's ability, possibly causing ourselves embarrassment and the other person insult.

A formidable human passion makes us resist being humble. Because of pride we love to think of ourselves as prettier, smarter, or stronger than others. It’s the devil's work to make us consider ourselves among the best without need of other’s assistance. If the devil is successful in this endeavor, we would be isolated, deceived, and inclined to do something awful.

So how can we avoid pride and attain holiness? First, as Saint Paul says in the same Letter to the Philippians, let us consider others as superior to ourselves. In fact, in one respect or another, they are. Second, let's be willing to forgive other people's faults. Further in the list of beatitudes, Jesus highlights mercy. This disposition allows us to assume the feelings of others so that we can forgive them. Finally, humility, so challenging in this world permeated with Facebook and Instagram, requires prayer. We have to pray every day: “Make me humble like you, Lord”.

Friday, October 14, 2022

 Friday of the Twenty-eighth week in ordinary time

(Ephesians 1:11-14; Luke 12:1-7)

In his recorded homily last Sunday Bishop Robert Barron preached on the virtue of humility.  He said that humility is the source of sanctity because pride is the greatest of vices.  In demonstrating this spiritual truth, Bishop Barron featured Naaman, the Syrian general.  Despite his prominence, Naaman took the advice of an Israeli slave girl and the second-hand instruction from the prophet Elisha.  The result was not just his physical healing but his coming to know and praise the true God.

In today’s gospel Jesus recommends the same humility.  He tells his disciples to beware of the leaven or hypocrisy of the Pharisees.  He means that the Pharisees try to make themselves look important before others.  Their pretension, however, will end in the loss of their souls if it is not corrected.  The Pharisees and everyone else must acknowledge their weaknesses before God and neighbor as they pray for strength to overcome them.

We like to reflect on our strengths – good looks, discipline, sharp intellect, what have you.  In acknowledging these, we should give thanks to God for both natural endowment and the grace to develop it.  But it is more important to acknowledge our weaknesses – laziness, craving for food, clumsiness, etc.  Doing so, we can appeal to God for the saving grace to bear our crosses as His children.

Thursday, May 12, 2022

 Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 13:13-25; John 13:16)

A seminarian admitted that he had difficulty with his community chore.  He was assigned to clean toilets.  “Anything but that,” he pleaded.  However, for good reason seminarians should perform such duties.  In doing so, they imitate Jesus whom they purport to follow.

In today’s gospel Jesus has just washed his disciples’ feet. His action came close to scandalizing them.  Then he told them to wash each other’s feet.  One can imagine the disgust that the disciples feel now.  But, Jesus intimates, just as he came not to be served but to serve so must his disciples.  “’No slave,’” he says, “’is greater than his master.’”

We should not think that we must give every kind of assistance to others.  To optimize our time we will do the necessary work for which we are best qualified.  Even that work, however, must be carried out with humility.  As St. Augustine says, “…if humility does not precede and accompany and follow every good work we do, …pride will wrest from our hand any good deed we do while we are in the very act of taking pleasure in it.”

 

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

 Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent

(Isaiah 1:10.16-20; Matthew 23:1-12)

Yesterday’s gospel emphasized mercy.  Today’s stresses humility.  And tomorrow’s will highlight service.  It seems that during this second week of Lent the Church means to prepare its people for ministry. 

Moralist Fr. Richard Gula has written that humility is hard to understand, much less to cultivate.  Why be humble?  Are not those who promote themselves rewarded?  Gula believes that the humble will foster cooperation among a group to successfully complete a common task.  In baseball, for example, recruiters no longer pay exclusive attention either to homerun hitters or to those with the highest batting averages.  What they increasingly want are players who produce runs for their team.  They may do it with a hit, a walk, being hit by a pitched ball, or even by striking out on a wild pitch.

We don’t have to be introverted or sad to be humble.  We just have to recognize that the world, the community, or the team does not revolve around us.  We also have to recognize the contributions of everyone to the common good.  In the end humility will move us to admit our faults as well as our virtues and to ask God’s mercy.  Then humility will become a source of our salvation.

Homilette for Monday, November 3, 2008

Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, religious

(Philippians 2:1-4)

“Blessed are the meek,” Jesus’ third beatitude on the mount tells us, “for they shall inherit the earth.” The claim sounds so preposterous that one commentator declares that the land Jesus has in mind is the “new earth,” the kingdom of heaven. No doubt, the commentator is correct. The meek gain God’s kingdom, but at times it seems that they also capture high regard on this earth, corrupted as it is.

Certainly St. Martin de Porres exemplifies a person of humility ascending to renown. He belonged to the Dominican Order which has achieved recognition for scholarship. Yet St. Martin did not leave behind any notable writings but only a legacy of charity. He thought of himself as a poor sinner who needed to perform constant acts of penance. As well as any saint in history, perhaps, Martin lived what St. Paul writes about in today’s first reading: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves...” Interestingly, St. Martin has become the most popular Dominican saint, surpassing in notoriety his holy patron, Dominic Guzman, and his illustrious confrere, Thomas Aquinas.

Most of us cannot hope to duplicate Martin de Porres’ humility, but this doesn’t mean that we should not try to imitate it. We must never fool ourselves with the rationalization that humility, as the proper evaluation of one’s own worth, makes one recognize himself or herself as superior to the common lot. Such fatuous logic will only lead one down a road of perdition. Our aim should not be subservience to others but rather, in line with St. Martin, Christ’s sense of submission to God. As Paul will go on to write, Christ became obedient to God to the extent of suffering death on a cross.

Homilette for Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

(Luke 1:57-66;80)

Pope Benedict XVI writes that his whole village celebrated his ordination to the priesthood. The festivities were so grand, he says, that in the midst of them the future pope had to remind himself repeatedly, “This is not for you, Joseph; this is not for you.” Who was it for, then? Of course, the people were giving glory to Christ and expressing their gratitude for the ministry of his Church.

The Church along with the gospel writers portrays John the Baptist with humility similar to that of Benedict XVI. The Church has selected June 24 for the feast of John’s birth because it is around the day when the sun’s light in the northern hemisphere begins to decrease, just as John says in the fourth gospel, “(Jesus) must increase; I must decrease.” In the gospel passage we read today, Elizabeth and Zechariah insist that “John” is their baby’s name. “John” means “Yahweh has shown favor.” God favors not only the aged parents in having their first child but all Israel and, indeed, the whole world for the one whom John will announce. As Zechariah proclaims in his famous canticle, John will go before the Lord Jesus to prepare his ways.

We are wise to be humble like the young, future Pope Benedict and like John the Baptist. No matter how intelligent, rich, or beautiful we may be, we are not as indispensable as we think. We are not even capable of a truly good deed without the gift of grace. And that grace comes from Jesus Christ who has, indeed, saved every one of us.

Homilette for Monday, June 23, 2008

Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

(Matthew 7:1-5)

Archbishop Tim Dolan of Milwaukee tells the story of an essay contest in the early 1930’s sponsored by an English newspaper. He writes that participants were to submit compositions answering the question, “What’s wrong with the world today?” As much as at any time there were plenty of troubles then. The great economies of the world were in depression. Communism was gaining popularity all over. Germany was on the verge of rearming. However, according to Archbishop Dolan, the Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton submitted the winning essay, consisting of only two words. Answering the question, “What’s wrong with the world...?” Chesterton wrote, “I am.”

Chesterton seems to have taken to heart Jesus’ message in the gospel today. Rather than judge others, we are to acknowledge and correct our faults. This kind of humility became thematic for Christianity. St. Paul will write to the Philippians, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” (Phil 2:3). We should not see this perspective as unreal or self-abusive. Rather, it understands what many come to realize with guilt and embarrassment: we are not as capable as we think, and others are not as deficient.

Americans have a custom that institutionalizes the refraining of judging others. At our best we call everyone by Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Miss and their last name. Even the president of the country is often addressed as “Mr. President.” The custom is based on the equality of all. No one is inherently better or worse than another. Everyone deserves a simple title. In the end God will judge all regarding their use of individual talents.

Homilette for Saturday, November 3, 2007

You can find homilettes for weekedays between October 28 and November 2 below.

Saturday, XXX Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin de Porres

(Luke 14:1.7-11)

Sometimes in reading the gospels we may think that Jesus develops strategies for satisfying egotistical desires. When he says, “turn the other cheek,” for example, one commentator opines that he gives the formula for embarrassing one’s opponent and reasserting one’s dignity. Today’s gospel offers a more obvious example. We might wonder whether Jesus advises us to take a back seat in a banquet hall so that the host will escort us to a place of honor. This instant return would be the “good news” that preachers of worldly payoffs propagate.

But we must rid ourselves of such delusions. Jesus is not a financial consultant. He preaches true humility as a way to follow him. He turns the other cheek when his guards beat him after his arrest. In his becoming human, he humbles himself utterly in that he does not cling to his throne of power. The rewards which he brings do not follow as premiums from a bullish stocks. No, they are accrued in heaven where we might enjoy them forever.

Few saints demonstrate Jesus’ humility like Martin de Porres. With a sense of unworthiness, which we should see as a comparison to Christ rather than to his contemporaries, he did not believe himself fit for religious life. Fortunately, the Dominicans of Lima, Peru, convinced him to live with them. From their monastery Martin untiringly taught the poor better farming techniques, cured their sicknesses with self-developed remedies, and fed the famished among them. As Jesus might have predicted, when Martin died, the bishops and nobility of Peru carried his body to the cemetery. More wonderfully still, angels carried him into Paradise!

Homilette for Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Tuesday, XVIII Week of Ordinary Time

(Numbers 12)

Aaron and Miriam are the brother and sister of Moses. Much is written about Aaron but little about Miriam although it is likely that she had an important role in the exodus. We meet the two in the reading today griping about Moses’ wife. This seems to be a pretext, however, for a complaint that Moses is receiving all the glory while they do much of the work. They seek greater recognition for their efforts. Perhaps they feel that they will receive their due recompense when God calls all three into His presence.

God, however, has a different view of things. Moses is not only His choice for leadership but consistently shows greater virtue. Rather than consolidate power, Moses remains humble. So God chastises Miriam by inflicting her with leprosy. True to form Moses does not gloat over Miriam’s comeuppance. To the contrary, he immediately pleads to the Lord to end Miriam’s distress.

Meekness calls us to seek reconciliation among adversaries rather than standoff or subjection. It is a rare virtue in our times. Once, two couples were active leaders in Marriage Encounter. One couple judged the other as not faithfully following standard procedures. The other couple insisted they were and retreated with their following to continue doing things their way. Neither couple would give in. The former might have accepted the latter’s good intentions if not perfect compliance to somewhat arbitrary norms. The latter couple might have made more effort to adapt its ways to what was expected. Moses’ humility would have made both couples better leaders.

Homilette for Thursday, December 21, 2006

(Luke 1)

In October 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr., was a patient at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta when the news media reported that he would receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The archbishop of Atlanta, Paul Hallinan, took advantage of his stay in a Catholic hospital to personally visit the newly named laureate. He congratulated King for the honor and asked if he might give him his blessing. The request was readily accepted. Upon finishing the sign of the cross, the archbishop sank to his knees and begged Dr. King’s blessing in return.

The act of humility by the archbishop resembles Elizabeth’s recognition of Mary in today’s gospel. The elderly woman cries out, “’How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’” It was not the press that informed Elizabeth of Mary’s distinction, however. No, it was the divine interplay between the Messiah in Mary’s womb and the prophet in her own womb that tipped Elizabeth off.

We might suspend our seasonal activities for a few minutes on these days before Christmas to meditate on the divine player. Who is he that whose birth we are about to celebrate? Jesus, son of Mary, claimed by us Christians as son of God as well. Sure, but what does all this mean? The appropriate clues to answer these questions may be found in the antiphons that we use before the gospel the seven days before Christmas. These are the same as the verses to the Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the wisdom that makes sense of our lives. He is the Key of David that opens our way to the kingdom of God. Reflecting on these and the others, we can appreciate why John leaps for joy when Jesus approaches.