Sunday, October 23, 2016

Homily: 30th Sunday in OT 2016 - The humble shall be exalted

A few months ago, I got the great idea to learn how to play the violin. I grew up playing a little bit of piano and trumpet; I sang in the choir in high school and in seminary, so I’m pretty familiar with reading music. And so I figured, how hard could the violin really be? So I got a hold of a violin, and realized pretty quickly that if I was going to progress in this instrument, I was going to need to take some lessons: I didn’t even know if I was holding the thing correctly.

And I have to admit, those first few violin lessons, were very humbling. I admitted to my violin teacher that I was a bit uncomfortable: you know, a grown adult, a priest, several college degrees, and I could barely get through “Mary Had a Little Lamb” without the violin sounding like I was torturing some poor cat.

Now, several months later, I’ve progressed a little. Father Klasinski may disagree, but it doesn’t quite sound like I’m tormenting small animals in my room when I practice. But, I really have to admit, those first few weeks, were very humbling, and very uncomfortable. The violin didn’t care about my degrees, about the time I spent visiting the sick, or teaching in the classroom. And to sit with this professional violin player was kind of embarrassing. I felt like a little child.

But, I’m so glad I risked a little embarrassment, because now I’m able to enjoy practicing and playing one of my favorite musical instruments.

You may have had a similar experience: learning a new language, a new skill, always involves a little bit of humiliation. But when we willingly undergo that humiliation, that makes all the difference. One wonders if there can be any real growth without humiliation—we have to be willing to become like little children.

Sometimes I think little children are much more courageous than adults. They don’t worry about what people think of them, they just engage. They’ll try new things because they look fun. They play without self-regard. They quickly make new friends—they are able to do things that many adults would be humiliated over doing—but that’s the key to their joy isn’t it…not fearing humiliation.
Not only is this true in making a new friend, learning a new skill, enjoying a new hobby, facing humiliation is also important for new growth in the spiritual life.

Would we honor Saint Francis as a great Saint if he had allowed his fears of what others thought of him to control his life? If he worried about being considered “overly religious”? Or Saint Clare? What if she let social pressures keep her from leaving behind her family wealth to pursue radical holiness. Or St. Paul, what if he had left his fear of unknown lands keep him from his missionary journeys. So many of the great Saints risk humiliation, they risk failure, they risk mockery, in order to pursue true greatness.

I think this fear is why many of our young people do not consider entering the religious life or going to the seminary. What will they think of me if I joined the monastery. But, I think each of us, in the Christian life, have to ask ourselves, do we want to be great in the eyes of the world, or in the eyes of God?

I pray that fear of the unknown, this fear of humiliation, the fear of being considered “overly religious” -- does not keep anyone here from joining the choir or becoming a Eucharistic minister or volunteering your time in charitable service.

In today’s Gospel of the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus praises the humility of the tax collector while denouncing the arrogance of the Pharisee. The Pharisee was unwilling to humble himself before God. The Pharisee goes into the Temple, but the words he offers are more of an exercise in self-congratulation than prayer.

Real prayer, the prayer of the tax collector, is like learning that musical instrument, learning that new language, that new skill, it’s about making ourselves vulnerable before God, recognizing that before God, I’m a child, I barely know how to walk, to talk, stand.

Some people say, they don’t like to pray because they really don’t know how to pray. Wonderful. That’s the first step! That’s the right attitude! In the Gospel, Jesus condemns those who just sort of babble, who offer this long list of prayers without having the right disposition of heart.
The Pharisee failed to pray because he maintained this shell of pride around his heart. He thought that prayer was standing up in the temple and talking about how great he was, instead of kneeling like the tax collector and recognizing how great God is.

You can see it in the difference in the postures of the two men. The Pharisee stands proud, arrogant, the tax collector kneels, doesn’t even lift his head to heaven, he beats his breast praying, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner”. Be merciful to me. Have mercy. We say those words at the beginning of every Mass. Lord, have mercy. We begin Mass with those words so that we may have a true posture of prayer throughout the whole Mass.

It’s not easy to admit that we are sinners. It requires to break the shell of our pride. That’s why I love that gesture of beating the breast during the Confiteor and first Eucharistic prayer: it’s like breaking down the barrier I’ve placed between my heart and God’s heart.

As hard as it is, as hard as it is to go Sacramental Confession after a particularly embarrassing sin, humbling ourselves before God is often the beginning of something great. Humility allows God’s power to begin to change us, fill us, and bring us true joy.

Jesus’ ended the parable by teaching, “for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The Christian who recognizes his need for God’s mercy, shall receive that mercy; while those who go throughout life convinced of their own self-righteousness, shall be humbled when Christ returns as judge. There can be no spiritual growth without humility, there can be no salvation without recognizing one’s need for a savior.


As Jesus comes to us again today, in word and sacrament, may our posture before him be that of the humble tax collector, and may that posture of humility be the beginning of new spiritual growth, a flowering of new spiritual gifts, a new chapter of service for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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