22nd Sunday Luke 14: 1, 7 Are you familiar with the Mac Davis song that goes, Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way, I can’t wait to look in the mirror, cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me. I must be a heck of a man. Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble, but I’m doing the best that I can. Mr. Davis makes light of the lack of humility but humility is something much needed in our world today. Jesus Christ saved our souls from the fires of hell by his dying on the cross but the only thing that will save this world from the current state it’s in is a return to humility. I’m not talking about a false humility which border lines on sadomasochism motivated by self hatred. Humility is not an eagerness to comply with anyone who tells you to do something. And a humble person certainly is not someone who runs around and says I’m not worthy. True humility is that which looks at another human being and sees Jesus. It’s a humility that knows I am nothing but an over flow of the divine love, nothing more but an ongoing gift and because of that there is no “self” that requires defense. Our Country and our world need to be filled with Christ like humility to save in from the state it’s in. Have you ever just thought about the humility of Jesus? Almighty God, the one who created us and by whose love we exist at this moment endured so much humiliation at the hands of his creatures. I’m not just talking about his crucifixion. The maker of the universe humbled himself to be born of a woman, his creation, he was obedient to Mary and Joseph, the king of kings lived basically as a homeless person and he gives himself as food for us at every Mass. Almighty God does all of this out of love for you and me and every person on earth. If God who is superior to everything chose to humble himself and become one of us, shouldn’t we love all men especially those who we look at as less then us or who we feel are bothersome. Who are we compared to God? How dare we not love one another when God loves us so much? The problem today is where love should be flowing over watering the souls of mankind there is a great pit of darkness full of hate, violence, lust, prejudice and every other sort of evil that dries up and kills souls. Before we can blame political leaders or the rest of society for the problems in the world today we first have to look here in our own hearts and in this community of disciples. Our attitude my not be quite the lyrics of the Mac Davis song but we all can come close. Once we start thinking we’re better then another person and more deserving of the good things in life, once we start judging someone then they we are adding to the problem and not fixing it. We all do this to one extent or another. I’ll be the first to admit I fall into this pit. One of my weaknesses is impatient driving. “Why are you in the left lane doing 40 in a 45, move right and get out of my way, I have things to do, you’re slowing me down; move!” I realize it’s a lack of humility and thinking what I need is most important. The car in front of me is not the problem it’s my attitude. What would our world be like if every one of us considered the other person as more important then our selves? We all have needs and desires we want fulfilled. No one expects us to live on bread and water in a tent all of our days. But we must think of others in everything we do. Father Baron gave an example of just one way he does this in his day to day life and I think we all could follow it if we choose. If his budget allows him to spend $700.00 on a 50” TV he’ll buy 42” for $400.00 and give $300.00 to those in need. We could do this when we purchase anything from fast food to cars. If you think about all the poverty in the world, children without food, elderly without medicine and so many homeless, once we’ve met our basic needs everything else we have should go to those who go without. The bible says if you have two coats give one to the person with none. This is something we all should think seriously about. Are my needs so important and so special that while children starve I spend our money on things I’ll throw away in a year? How we spend our money is just one way we can love Jesus in other people. Our lack of humility even affects our worship of God. The majority of Catholics don’t believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. We want a god of the movies, powerful and smashing evil with his mighty fist. We can’t deal with a God as small as a concentrated host. Our God is powerful and we would drop dead if we saw him in unveiled glory but our God is also loving and humble. Jesus humbled himself so he could be with us physically but we can’t humble our self enough to believe his words “this IS my body”. We don’t go to reconciliation because we’re too proud to admit our weaknesses to the priest. We kid ourselves by saying I just confess my sins to God when really we’re just too embarrassed to ask forgiveness the way Christ told us to. Our world suffers because we have millions of Catholics walking around wounded and not in a state of grace. Humility is realizing we’re wrong and running to the forgiveness Christ offers us in this sacrament. Catholics can save the world because of the power of Christ in us but we have to follow Christ’s example to love others as ourselves. I went to the chapel here one evening after a meeting to spend a few minutes with Jesus. There in front was a lone woman on her knees praying. Her words were barley audible but I could tell she was praying for priests; the priests of our parish and the world. It was late in the evening and she could be comfortable at home watching TV, reading or anything else. Instead she was here praying for the men who through the power of the Holy Spirit give us Jesus. The first commandment is to love God and the second is like it, love thy neighbor as thy self. We have to make sure we fulfill the first before we can truly fulfill the second. If we attempt to love other people doing good for them without loving God in them what we do will always be about us at its foundation and doomed to fail. As Mac Davis said in his song, to know me is to love me. He was right in one sense. We should be humble enough to look at every person we see and know theirs and our true identity is Christ. Once we realize this then we can see Jesus in every person we meet and we’ll be able to hear their cry to please know the real me and please love me.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 13:32:49 +0000
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