We see a common theme of humility in our readings today. Our first reading comes from the book of Sirach, a book which is not included in the Protestant Bible, but found in our Catholic Bible. Sirach is written in the Jewish wisdom tradition of literature, just like Ecclesiastes and Proverbs. Today, Sirach gives advice to those who want to be holy in the sight of God. We are told to be humble always, that those who achieve greatness and power in the world are called to even greater humility. We see that in some of our leaders, but not so much in others. When the reporter for a local TV station in Jackson interviewed me about the death of Pope Francis, the first thing she remembered about him is the way he went into the prisons during Holy Week and washed the feet of inmates. Genuine acts of humility certainly stand out in our society. Acts that are sincere and not done for show.
One year, at seminary in Milwaukee, I came back on the Greyhound bus during the Christmas break after visiting friends up in Canada. I had a backpack with me. I arrived in the dark early morning hours in downtown Milwaukee. I was waiting on the corner of the street at the bus stop in order to catch the local bus to take to the seminary. Being winter, I was wearing a big jacket and a scarf and a stocking cap. I guess I looked rather ragged in the darkness of the early morning. I had just been on a several days journey on the bus as well. A van from a church stopped in front of me, asking me if I wanted to go to a homeless shelter to rest. They offered me a sack of food as well. They assumed I was a homeless person just hanging out on the street. I thanked them for offering me assistance. I told them I was waiting for the bus. Taking the Greyhound was something that I commonly did as a missionary. I have taken it some as a priest as well. It certainly is a humbling experience, an experience many middle class Americans do not have.
The Psalm today is really about the humility of God. Perhaps we don’t often think of God in terms of his own humility. We more think about his omniscience and power of God, the wonder and awe we are to have when we approach him. But the psalmist reflects upon the way that God finds time to provide for the needy, to be a father to orphans, to protect widows, to give the homeless a home and bring prosperity to prisoners. God’s preference is for the needy.
Many of the saints saw the importance of humility on our journey of faith. Early Church Father St Augustin stated: “Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues; hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist, there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.” And Cistercian Abbot St Bernard of Clairvaux from the Middle Ages stated: “Humility is the path of truth.”
Jesus uses the parable of the guest taking the place of honor at a banquet to show us that on our journey of faith, he who exalts himself will be humbled in God’s kingdom, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. Jesus also highlights the importance of reaching out to the poor and the needy, of the special love and compassion God has for those on the margins.
My friend Deacon John McGregor says that he sees in me how God sends me out to minister to those in the margins. That is always where I have been drawn to ministry, even as a child and a youth. We each have our calling from God, but we all should incorporate God’s special love for the needy and the poor in our lives. That is why I so believe that we need to be a parish that reaches out to the poor and the marginalized. That this needs to be a part of our identity and our very being as Catholics.
To learn and practice the humility that our readings talk about today are embodied in the love for the Eucharist and the love for the poor we are called to as Catholics. Mother Teresa exemplifies this so well in her spirituality. In her life and ministry, there was a profound inseparable connection between her love for the Eucharist and her love for the poor. She saw the Eucharist as the source of her love and strength that enabled her to serve the poor with compassion and respect. She believed that Christ's presence in the Eucharist was comparable to his presence in the poor, that serving the poor was a way of serving Christ himself.
Catholic lay woman and founder of the Catholic worker Dorothy Day also exemplifies this connection with humility and service and her love for the Eucharist. Dorothy Day viewed the Eucharist as essential to both personal spiritual nourishment and the embodiment of the "Mystical Body of Christ" in society. For Day, receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist was a fundamental aspect of the call to actively love and serve the poor, recognizing Christ in the least among us. Day believed the Mass and daily acts of service, like feeding the hungry, were interconnected to each other, experiences where we encounters the divine.
May we really think about how we can live out this simple humility of faith to which we are called.
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