30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle C
October 23,
2016 4:00pm and 8:00am at Saint
Mary, Pylesville
11:00am
at Saint Matthew, Baltimore
Merton and Humility
There
was an American priest named Thomas Merton.
Merton
died in 1968. Many of you may know that
he was a contemplative monk – a member of the Trappist monastery in Kentucky.
Merton
wrote a number of books on spirituality and the spiritual life. In one place, he writes about humility and he
says this – just two sentences!
“Humility is absolutely necessary if one is
going to avoid acting like a baby all one’s life. To grow up, in fact, means to become humble,
to throw away the illusion that I am the center of everything.”
Jesus and Humility
Jesus
also talks about humility in today’s gospel.
He
tells a parable about two people in the temple.
The contrast between their attitudes and words and body postures is
absolutely dramatic.
And
then Jesus draws his teaching from this image.
“Those who exalt themselves will
be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
So, we
need to “humble ourselves,” to embrace
humility if we are to become the kind of persons Jesus calls us to be. We need to do this if we are going to “grow up,” as Thomas Merton says, and become
mature persons.
Today I
don’t want to give a definition of humility but I do want to try to describe it. As I see it, here are some of the things that
this Christian virtue means for us.
We Are Humble When…
We are
humble
when we
listen to others and do not interrupt them while they are speaking, no matter
how important we think our idea is,
Or
when we
pause to think before we speak and don’t have to be first or the loudest in
saying something.
We are
humble
when we
are like the tax collector in Jesus’ story and can admit our weaknesses and
mistakes, things that we did that were wrong or rash,
Or
when we
can laugh at ourselves, at our own idiosyncrasies and foibles.
We are
humble
when we
are not like the Pharisee in Jesus’ story and do not look down at others and see
ourselves as better than them, no matter what,
Or
when we
look at those who are different from us – in race or religion or culture or
nationality or politics or whatever – and see them as persons, as human beings
with needs and feelings and hopes like our own.
And we
are humble
when we
are willing to look at our part in the breakdown of a relationship – and there
is almost always an “our” part – and we do whatever we can on our side to work
out a reconciliation,
Or
when I
as a priest or we as a Church do not judge those who no longer come here and
instead look at ourselves and ask how we could do ministry better to bring the
Lord more effectively to the twenty-first century.
Conclusion
I am
sure there are more things we could say to describe humility.
This is
not a popular virtue in our culture. But
it is an essential virtue for our lives.
Let’s
just remember: “To grow up means to
become humble and throw away the illusion that I am the center of everything.” And, “Those
who humble themselves will be exalted.”
