Sermon : Life is a long lesson in humility

The major theme of this week’s Readings: Sirach 3:17–18, 20, 28–29; Psalm 68; Hebrews 12:18–19, 22–24 and Luke 14:1, 7–14, is difficult to present to the modern man; it is humility! Sirach tells us that man has reasons to be humble when standing before God. According to the letter to the Hebrews, God expects humility from his chosen people. And St. Luke’s Gospel gives us the main reason why we should be humble before God; we have received everything we are and have from its true source; God, and sincerity compels us to acknowledge him as the giver of all. In our modern time, there is a world of difference between those who see life as a gift and the ones who see it as ‘a given’. While the latter may feel that he has a right to take his share and grab for all he can. The former might live with a stance of humility and gratitude for all he has received from God. Such a person may experience to a certain extent what Mary said in her Magnificat, “the Almighty has done great things for me, holy is his Name.” In any case, it remains very interesting to note that humility was not considered a virtue before the time of Jesus Christ. The worst thing that could be said then about a man was that he was humble. Humility had something to do with humiliation and was considered to be a quality of a slave, not a free man. But when Christ came, his teaching had a new concept of humility that offered a new understanding where the way up is down: To be exalted, men must humble themselves. He illustrated this principle throughout His life and ministry. Over and over he repeated it that the Kingdom of heaven is for those who are like children: “unless you become like little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 19:14 Since Jesus used to teach in the open, many children who came with their parents liked him at first sight, children being what they are, they liked to cling to him and the first ones he would lift up. The disciples did not like it. Very often they rebuked them due to irritation over children who refused to “stay in their place” and who interrupt an important discussion among “grown-ups”. But Jesus would say, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Today we can not fail to appreciate the humility of the greatest teacher sitting with children, listening to their stories and admiring their innocence and willingness to trust. In our modern time the relevance of humility is in its demand for a right judgment of ourselves. It is the quality of being modest, reverential, and never being arrogant, contemptuous or rude. Today, humility is becoming hard to communicate as a value in our modern society; with its culture which emphasizes self-assertion and self-promotion. But in all this, humility still requires us not to exaggerate our qualities. In our modern society, humility demands mutual responsibility and inter-dependence in a world that values hegemony and self-interest. And in our case, the opposite of humility is not necessarily arrogance. It can be indifference and heedlessness as well; where heedless is to assert one’s life at the expense of the lives of other people. This is always wrong as the famous lawyer James Pearsall Smith puts it: Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this: That you are dreadfully like other people. St. Ignatius who lived in the 16th century made a prayer for all season which is helpful for us in fostering the virtue of humility in our life: Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. I surrender it all to you, to be disposed of according to your most holy will. Abraham Lincoln who lived long after St. Ignatius in the 19th century used to advise his country against pride. He said that man’s failure to feel humble before his creator is a result of the deceitfulness of our hearts. He is widely quoted for having said the following words: We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. Ends