Pride and Fake Humility: Homily for 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

 

Sir 3:17-18, 20, 28-29

Lk 14:1,7-11

 

“Every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and every one who humbles himself will be exalted.'”

Jesus’ teaching on humility in the context of a banquet is unique to Luke’s Gospel.  But as we heard in the first reading it is not unique in scripture. “Humble yourself more the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.”

The book of Sirach was written about 180 years before Jesus’ birth. Humility is its particular hallmark. In chapter one verse 27 of Sirach we read “For the fear of the Lord is wisdom and discipline; faithfulness and humility are his delight,”  Verse 17 of chapter 7 advises “More and more, humble your pride;  what awaits mortals is worms.” The challenge presented by Sirach is knowing what humility is and what it isn’t.

Saint Benedict defined twelve steps of humility in his Rule. The first sentence of Chapter Seven of that Rule introduces those steps by quoting today’s gospel admonition against exalting oneself.  All in all, the word ‘humility’ appears over thirty times in the Rule of Benedict.  As is true of Sirach, the challenge is to discern what true humility is and how to live it. 

Humility is an interesting and frequently misunderstood virtue. It is something we can fake easily enough while preening interiorly. Today one might call that kind of humility virtue signaling or humble-bragging. It is easy to fake humility, it is difficult to live it, particularly in this day of relentless self-promotion and ubiquitous “selfies," this last being one of the ugliest words in English, both in its sound and in what it implies. The image of the banquet is an excellent illustration of the danger of excessively high self-regard, a danger that is at epidemic levels today. 

Arrogating a place of honor without being asked is a blatant example of excessive self-regard, and a potential cause for extreme humiliation, “I’m sorry, this seat is reserved for someone who is important.  Please go stand behind the rope.”  However, true humility is not persistent and public self-criticism,  breast beating, and public self-abasement.  Humility refers to a proper sense of self-regard.  It demands honestly admitting one's mistakes to oneself and trying to correct them. It means accepting one’s limitations such as they are. It also means accepting ones abilities and, when one has done well,  realizing it with a graceful attitude. Most significantly for our times today true humility does not mean deflecting or denying compliments or praise. Quite the contrary.  Humility means accepting compliments and praise with gratitude and leaving it at that.

Compliments are an interesting phenomenon.  We learn a lot about ourselves and others by observing how we, or they, respond to them.  A compliment is an expression of regard from the speaker to the recipient.  A compliment is a verbal gift from one person to another.  It is a form of affection.

"That dress looks very good on you." 

"You mean this old rag?  You need to see your eye doctor."  

"That is a beautiful photograph." 

"Oh a twelve year-old could have done as well.” 

This kind of response is not humility.  It may appear so on the surface.  But, in reality this response is pride wearing the badly applied makeup of humility. The simpering deflection of a compliment is meant to encourage even more reassurance and praise,  praise that can only be accompanied by a cascade of superlatives.

"Oh no, you are soooooooo wrong.  That painting is exceptionally well done.  The composition, the color, the brushstrokes . . . .'  “Aw shucks, ma’am” as one traces a semi-circle in the dust. Responding to a compliment with fake humility is an attempt to manipulate others into piling on the accolades.  More significantly, it is a rejection of the other's gift that is on par with refusing a proffered handshake. There is only one possible response to a compliment:  A slight smile, perhaps a nod, and  words to the effect, "Thank you, it is kind of you to say so."   

Hubris, the opposite of humility, is defined as  extreme pride, especially pride and ambition so great that they offend the gods and lead to one's downfall.  It was hubris and not hunger or a desire to chomp on an apple, that led to Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the garden. And, it took very little persuasion for Satan to appeal to and further inflame, that pride and ambition. The results were disastrous.  It is pride that drives one to assume a prime seat at a banquet without having been asked to take it.  Pride is the driving force behind many of the sins we commit on a regular basis.  Pride is sin in and of itself as heard in the 

Carthusian penitential rite that begins: "I confess to Almighty God and to you my brothers that I have sinned exceedingly through pride . . . "  Pride is a deadly sin and the driver behind many of the other sins we commit. 

The best description of humility I ever read came in a letter from my late mentor

Jesuit psychiatrist George B. Murray. His definition is an important corrective to the fake humility that fishes for more praise. He wrote: "The only thing you need in the novitiate is a true vocation and humility.  Humility is not kowtowing,  it is not proclaiming yer' lowness, or indulging in public self-abasement.  Humility is based on truth, ergo the real.  . . . . if you erred admit it to yourself (ya’ don't have to advertise it).  If you did good admit it to yourself (ya’ don't have to advertise it)” 

True humility is realizing our pride, admitting it to ourselves,  and then acting against that pride without making it obvious; without making a big deal out of it,

without, in George’s words, feeling the need to make public kowtow so that others will notice how humble we are. 

True humility means following Jesus' command, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." 

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Just back from a much needed retreat, which accounts for no homilies the pat two Sundays.  Was at the monastery of the Maronite Monks of Adoration, in Petersham, MA, about 2 hours west of Boston.  Is small, quiet, and in a lovely setting,   The weather was a bit hot the first two days and then it became gloorious.  

The night before leaving.  Venus and Mercury are part of a six-planet alignment.

Monastic Church

E

Entry drive into the monastery.  It is set in the middle of nowhere.   No wi-fi by design and no phone because of geography. 

Shrine of the Sacred Heart

Sunrise was glorious.  This  is the view from my east-facing room.

 

 

 

 

 

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

Solemnity of the Assumption

 

Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab

Ps 45:10, 11, 12, 16

1 Cor 15:20-27

Lk 1:39-56

 

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; is one of three Marian feasts that remain holy days of obligation requiring the faithful to attend Mass,

unless, in the inexplicable thought of the U.S. bishops in 1991, it falls on Saturday or Monday when I guess, it is a holy day of inconvenience. The other two Marian Feasts which remain Holy Days of Obligation are: The Immaculate Conception on December 8 and The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on New Year’s Day. 

 

Today’s feast raises questions for many of the faithful and even more questions for the less-than-faithful and the terminally sophisticated. The first question is why do we celebrate the Feast of Mary's Assumption? 

 

Though Pius XII decreed it as dogma only in 1950, the feast has been observed in both the Western and Eastern Churches since the 6^th Century.  Despite the long duration of this observance there is no scriptural basis for Mary's Assumption, or what the Eastern Church calls The Dormition of Mary.  A few passages of scripture are sometimes cited as indicative of the Assumption.  But the explanations involve intricate mental and scriptural gymnastics. 

 

A second question is how?  As tantalizing as it might be to explore the biology and physics of the Assumption, a dogma that states that Mary was taken bodily into heaven, the question is irrelevant.  The more important considerations are:

what the feast means for us and what the dogma of Mary's assumption should teach us?

 

The Feast of the Assumption points the way for all followers of Jesus who imitate Mary’s fidelity and obedience to God’s will. . . it points the way for all who can repeat Mary’s yes at the Annunciation:

 

"Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum"

“May it be done unto me according to your word.” 

 

Each of today’s readings is important to the feast.

 

The Book of Revelation is filled with fantastical, strange, and bizarre images  some of which will never be fully understood. The identity of the woman in this passage and the interpretations of the images are subjects of heated debate.  The arguments range from the images indicating Israel, the Church, Eve, Mary the Mother of Jesus, all of the above, some of the above, or none of the above. 

Scripture scholar Adele Collins suggests that it is more important to see the woman’s destiny than it is to know her identity.  It is a good point.   Her destiny should be ours. Many artists have painted and sculpted the images in Revelation with mixed results. One can clearly see the influence of this passage, in depictions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the only other feast on which we hear this reading. 

 

Paul’s words both comfort and instruct us.  We heard at the beginning of the reading “Just as in Adam all die so too in Christ shall all be brought to life.”  And then at the end of the reading, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death,
for he subjected everything under his feet.”

 

Death’s destruction was contingent on Maryand her reply to the angel.

 

Mary’s obedience

stands in sharp contrast to Eve’s disobedience.  Eve’s infidelity to God’s will is trumped by Mary’s fidelity. Mary is both the antithesis of Eve and the new Eve, mother of us all.

 

Magnificat anima meo Dominum

 

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior." 

 

There are lilies that must never be gilded.  The Magnificat is one of them.  Mary’s prayer does not need grammatical dissection, gender neutralization, or revisions that reflect contemporary agendas. The Magnificat calls for quietly holding the words, phrases, and images in the depths of our souls, particularly at the end of vespers, the hour that prepares us for the silence of the night, that time of darkness that is most fertile for prayer and contemplation.

 

As we pray with Mary, as we magnify the Lord, and rejoice in God our savior, we will once again recall that God has remembered—and will always remember—His promise of mercy. 

 

And thus we must say, as we always do at end the Magnificat:

 

Gloria Patri, et Filio,

et Spiritui Sancto,.

 

Glory be to the Father . . . . 

 

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Besides being the Memorial of Maximilian Kolbe today it is the eve of the Assumption.  It is also 26 years since I pronounced vows as a Jesuit.  No homilies for the next two Sundays as I will be on retreat with no opportunity to preach and no access to internet or phone access, the second being due to the geography of rural MA.  

 

The photos are self-explanatory.  They were taken over the years at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.  

 

 

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Wis 18:6-9

Ps 33

Heb 11:1-2, 8-19

Lk 12:32-48

 

We heard in the Letter to the Hebrews, "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen."  These are important words that remind us what faith is, and, with just a little thought, what faith is not.

 

True faith is not dependent on the sciences. On Wednesday we celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration will always remain a mystery beyond the reach of historical reconstruction, scientific explanation, or geographic verification.  However, faith is not unquestioning, pious, or naive either.  It is not visiting the Mountain of the Transfiguration  to see specifically where Jesus stood, or to kiss where he might have been thought to have stood at the place of the Ascension.  There are some things we can never know.  Faith continues despite lack of proof. 

 

Both the scientifically skeptical and the unquestioningly pious must learn to live with that reality.  They must learn to live, not only with things not seen, but with things that will never be seen, fully known, or open to proof.  Faith is radical trust in God’s goodness and guiding presence, even in the midst of trial and struggle.

 

Faith is not the light at the end of the tunnel.  It is the light in the tunnel.  It is  the light that allows us to travel through the tunnel and come out on the other side. Faith is listening for the soft voice that may be obscured by the chaos of the present moment.

 

The reading from Hebrews gives a short biography of Abraham, our father in faith.  Because of faith he left home and all that was familiar even though he did not know where he was to go. In faith he accepted that he would be the father of a nation despite his age.

 

In faith he was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac who was the fulfillment of God’s promise of generativity.  It is an astonishing story.

 

Faith always entails a degree of uncertainty. That uncertainty is highlighted in the gospel, a gospel that is disconcerting.  It is less comforting and more of a warning about our responsibilities.  Jesus reminded  His disciples to be aware of their responsibilities at all times when he told them, “But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming, and begins to beat the servants . . . ,to eat . . . and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and unknown hour.  He will punish the servant severely
and assign him a place with the unfaithful.” 

 

Many parents have had the experience of coming home sooner than expected to find the kids doing what they were told not to do, partying, drinking, or any of a number of other untrustworthy behaviors.  The situation is a staple of many movies. There might have been a shocked silence, rage, tears, or promises after the fact.  The children betrayed the parents’ trust.  It could take years for it to be reestablished.

 

Jesus concluded with, "From everyone to whom much has been given,

much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded."  We have been entrusted with much: the Gospel, the sacraments, and the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  We will be held accountable if we do not use and learn from them.  We show our trust in God in how we respond to the gifts we have been given, how we use the time and opportunities in life to grow, particularly in the face of adversity.

 

We should not be caught by surprise like the servants in the gospel, or the kid whose parents come home earlier than expected.   We should live each day as if we were preparing to meet the Lord. so that we might sing with the psalmist:

 

"Our soul waits for the LORD,

who is our help and our shield.

May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us

who have put our hope in you."

 

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Compleetely exhausting dayl  Flower photos are easy.  No explanation needed. 

 

 Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

Vanity of Vanities: Homily for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Ecc 1:2, 2:21-23

Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17

Col 3: 1-5, 9-11

Lk  12:13-21

 

The Book of Ecclesiastes, from which the first reading was taken, is fascinating.  It is part of the Wisdom literature, a literature that, like the Book of Proverbs, continues to supply practical advice for living up to today. 

 

Today’s reading is discontinuous. It consists of chapter one verse two, the second most well-known verse of the book, at least to baby boomers, and chapter two verses 21 to 23. Were the reading to continue into the third chapter we would be able to have a sing along with music by Pete Seeger and the only pop lyrics taken directly from the Old Testament.  The song is, of course, “Turn, Turn, Turn” the 1965 hit that reached #1 on the pop charts as recorded by the The Byrds

 

 

Ecclesiastes is concerned with the purpose and value of human life, both of which are being demeaned today.  The overall outlook of the book is somewhat pessimistic as it wonders if enduring happiness is possible in this life; particularly if the life is materialistic, overly concerned with possessions, and consumed by the quest for money, honors, and acclaim.

 

There is a hint of what will be more fully revealed in Jesus’ teaching. True wisdom is not found “under the sun.”  True wisdom is perceived only through the light of faith.  The words “vanity of vanities, all things are vanity”  summarize the book  and move us directly into the Gospel.

 

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich one’s life does not consist of possessions.”  It would be absurd to add anything to this statement.  Indeed, it would be gilding the proverbial lily.  It states a fundamental truth.  It is the only possible response to the pathetic bumper sticker that sounds like a Gordon Gekkko motto: “He who has the most toys when he dies wins.”  The problem with the motto is that one is never told what the one with the most toys wins at the time of his death.

 

Vanity of vanities.

 

Sports pages breathlessly discuss obscene contracts offered to a washed up quarterback. Prices of the latest starlet’s desert vacation home are generally seven or more figures. Despite Botox we grow old.  The only way to rephrase the motto is: “He who has the most toys when he dies:  dies.” As Jesus’ parable points out, no matter how securely our goods are stored, upon our deaths they go to someone else.  Perhaps our heirs, a goodly chunk to taxes, or as fees to the banks and lawyers who probate the estate. 

 

The second reading advises: “Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.”

 

“ . . . and the greed that is idolatry.”

 

We are acquisitive by nature.  We want what belongs to others be it the same granite countertops, the same luxury car, or tragically at times, the neighbor’s spouse, a whole separate realm of sin. The desire for the most toys can drive much of what we do,how we think, how we act and how we choose to sin.

 

Bernie Madoff made headlines a couple of decades ago for the extent of his greed and acquisitiveness. The dynamics of his greed are no different from the college student who steals her friend’s sweater. The only difference is the budget.

 

“ . . .  and the greed that is idolatry.” 

 

And the greed that is the antithesis of generosity

 

A prayer attributed to St. Ignatius, whose feast we just celebrated on Thursday, reflects the responsorial psalm and is the antidote to “the greed that is idolatry.” 

 

“O Lord, teach me to be generous

To serve you as you deserve

To give and not to count the cost

To fight and not to heed the wounds

To toil and not to seek for rest

To labor and not to ask for reward

Save that of knowing I do your holy will.

 

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The photos are from the Mass on the Solemnity of St. Ignatius on Thursday.  Jesuits from all over Boston converged on BC.  The challenge with this feast is that it falls in the middle of the summer when many faculty and others are traveling or making their own retreats.  However, it was a great celebration with superb food.  Can judge the wine as I am not a wine drinker.  Had beer instead. 

 

 

The assembled men.

Approaching communion

Image of St. Ignatius

The schola that supplied the music.  The woman singing had a beautiful voice

Looking through the doors of the domestic chapel.  

Celebrant was Fr. Claudio Burgaletta, SJ our superior and the homilist was Fr. William Leahy, SJ president of BC who will turn over the office to Fr. Jack Butler, SJ next summer.

The Mass beginning. 

 Fr. Jack, SJ, MD