Homily
for September 2, 2007
Liturgical Year C - Cycle I
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. John Carney Topic:
Are you Humble?
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“Come to me all you who are
lowly. Learn from me for I am gentle and humble of
heart.”
Are you humble? That
is an important question. We heard today
that if you’re not, you won’t get a seat at the table, at the banquet
of
heaven. So, are you humble? It is a difficult question to
answer. If you say, “Oh, yes I am.” then you’re
not. If you said, “No” maybe you
are. There was a man who wanted to be
humble. When he finally found a sense of
humbleness, he was very happy. However,
he knew that this was a problem so he became sorry that he was happy to
be
humble. Then he saw his sorrow was a
good thing and became very happy that he was sorry over his happiness
to be
humble. Jesus tells us, “Come to me all you
who are lowly. Learn from me for I am gentle and humble of
heart.” Our perfect model of humility,
Mary our mother: “God has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me
blessed.” Humility, it is important,
very, very important. St.
Augustine said
that to achieve Christian perfection,
three things are necessary. The first is
humility. The second is humility. The third is humility. Are you humble?
Again, it is a hard question to address, but we need to. Humility
is not a lack of spirit, or a lack
of courage, or strength. C.S. Lewis
said, “Humility is not a pretty woman thinking she’s ugly, or a clever
man
thinking he’s a fool. Humility is not
denying the gifts and talents we have because they are gifts and
talents given
to us by God. To deny them or not use
them in a false sense of humility would be an insult to God.
Humility is not having a low opinion of
yourself, humility is, however, knowing that you are a creature of God
and you
are dependent on God. Knowing you’re not
ultimately in control of your own life much less the entire universe.” That is a real problem.
We hear this all the time about “control freaks”; an expression that I
think is relatively new in the last twenty years. Some people are
very controlling. Humility means for a Christian, submitting to
God. You know, it’s interesting the word
Moslem means one who submits
and Islam means to
submit. But Christianity is really a religion of
submission. However, we do not submit to
God as slaves but as friends to submit to Christ and to His
church. A humble Christian, a humble Catholic doesn’t
choose what parts of the church he or she likes. You hear about
“the cafeteria Catholic”. He says, “Well, I like this. I
don’t like this. I don’t like that.” Oftentimes, you’ve
heard, I’ve heard people
say, “Well, I don’t agree with the church’s teaching on this
issue.” I say, “Well, have you read the
encyclical?” They say, “The what?” I say, “Well, that’s the
teaching. Have you read it?” “No, but a guy at work agrees
with me and he
has a Ph.D.” “Have you read the
encyclical?” They don’t even know what
they’re disagreeing with oftentimes. Humility is about self-emptying about
a certain
self-forgetfulness by Jesus. Jesus did
not mean divinity as something to be grasped at. He who was Son
of God did not grasp after
divinity. Rather, he emptied himself and
took the form of a slave. Are you humble?
Some characteristics of those who are humble: you do not take yourself
too seriously or expect everyone else to take you too seriously.
I believe humble people are not easily hurt
or offended. They are not overly
sensitive. I think that’s a
problem. I think too many people are too
sensitive. We have words we use today
just like this: “I’m devastated”, (oh, get over it) or “I’m outraged”.
I like to read the letters to the editor in
the news. I get the Albuquerque,
Santa Fe, and the local paper. It’s amazing
the things people are outraged
and devastated about. God forbid, they
have a real problem some day. I think
that another characteristic of those who are humble is that they are
not
impatient. They are patient with people
and themselves. They don’t have an
obsession to be right. I know I’m going
to start a few family arguments here today.
It’s not that important to be right for a Christian. It is
important to be holy. Finally, I think humble people are not
possessed by
themselves. They are not
egocentric. They are Christocentric;
Christ is the center of who they are. Are you humble? It
is something to think about and I would ask you to take this home with
you this
week, to spend some time in prayer, to take an honest look at yourself.
I’ll do the same. I know I have a few areas of concern and
maybe you do as well. The wisdom of
Sirach, ancient yet ever new, “My son conduct your affairs with
humility and
you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more, the greater you are and you will find favor
with God for great is the power of God.
By the humble, he is glorified.” Mary is our model, the perfect model
of humility. These are her words from Luke’s Gospel
reflecting on the fact that she is the mother of God and that she is
carrying
the savior in her womb. She says, “My
soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
My spirit rejoices in God my savior for he has looked with favor on his
lowly servant. From this day, all
generations will call me blessed. The
almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. He
has mercy on those who fear him in every
generation. He has shown the strength of
his arm and scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast
down the mighty from their
thrones and has lifted up the lowly. The
hungry he has filled with good things.
The rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to
Abraham and
his descendants forever.” The humble person gives glory to God.
Together may we pray:
Glory
be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy
Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world
without end. Amen