Homily for the
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
6 July 2014
6 July 2014
“Come to Me . . .
for I am meek and humble of heart.”
These
words of our Lord are an invitation. Not just an invitation to come to Him or
to follow Him, but words that invite us to rest in Him.
My
brothers and sisters, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the source of humility; it
is the eternal and ultimate remedy for all that ails us. It is the cure for our
pride.
Pride
is the base of all sin. Pride is that which buries itself within us to focus
our attention not on the needs of others, but what our disordered affections
convince us to seek in what we believe will make us happy. Humility –
especially the humility based in the Heart of Jesus – reveals to us, His “little
ones”, all that the Father has kept hidden from the wise and the proud.
Now,
I must say that there IS a good sense of pride. We saw this “good pride”
earlier this week when the U.S. soccer team was advancing in the World Cup
finals. We saw this “good pride” as our country celebrated her 238th
Anniversary of Independence from a tyrannical monarchy on Friday. This “good
pride” is that which all nations exhibit in some way, shape, or form when
citizens unite together for a common goal or purpose – placing the needs of
others (or the national state) above one’s own.
Nevertheless,
pride is also the sin which divides a nation and condemns it. We saw this in
the 1930s with the rise of Nazi Germany and the fascist regime of Italy. Yet,
in recent days, we have seen the sin of individual pride – “What I want; what’s good for ME” – become the basis for a
harsh and saddening divide in our own nation. This sin of pride – which has,
unfortunately, played out very loudly over the course of this past week – has captured
and distorted the hearts of our nation.
My
friends, the recent Supreme Court decision doesn’t just reflect an ongoing battle
for women’s rights, so-called “reproductive rights”, or even the fight for
religious liberty. Rather, it is simply the modern manifestation of the battle
of pride over humility: What I want overshadowing what’s good for the other.
And, at the heart of it, this has been the battle from the beginning of time
with Satan choosing himself over God, and Adam and Eve believing the deceits of
the Serpent.
This
is the primary reason that the Church condemns the use of artificial birth
control as a mortal sin: Pride rules the heart in its use, and the moment
becomes about “me” and “my desires” over the mutual gift of self that the marital
embrace between one man and one woman is to achieve. Our lack of humility
becomes prevalent when the disorders of our hearts become our primary goal.
But
enter into time and into our hearts the words and the Person of Jesus Christ. He
calls us to come to Him; He calls us to rest in Him. He wants to take the pride that eschews our
hearts to Love and wants to give us the humility to live in Love alone. Christ
desires to transform the wanton desires buried deep inside us and wants to give
us a desire for meekness and a pure heart.
Christ
only desires our desire of Him.
Pride
keeps us from this.
The
heart’s battle of pride and humility is trying to live out the call of Christ
to enter into the rest He invites us to. If we choose to live in pride, if we
consistently choose “what’s good for me”, we will always be restless, and the
desires of our hearts will reflect that. Pride keeps us turning in to ourselves,
always trying to satisfy the desires of an insatiable, wanton heart that feeds
on disordered, unfulfilling love.
However,
if we are to choose humility, we choose a way of life that detaches us from
desiring anything but the will of God. If we choose humility, then we choose to
rest our restless hearts in the Heart that truly desires us. Being humble
allows us to choose Christ, and in that choice, we lay down all that labors and
burdens us, and we find rest.
Think
about what Paul says in his letter to the Romans in our Second Reading: For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. This
is pride versus humility. This is good versus evil. This is what we desire for
ourselves versus what Christ desires for us.
Saint
Teresa of Avila once said, “One act of humility
is worth more than all the knowledge of the world.”
The little ones to whom the Lord reveals great things knows that it is through
one’s humility that we are “[inspired] in . . .
words and actions to comfort those who labor and are burdened,”
and that humility helps us to “stand as a living witness to truth and freedom, to peace and
justice, that all people may be raised up to a new hope” (Preface of Eucharist Prayer of Masses
for Various Needs and Occasions IV).
The
wise and learned of the world believe they know everything, but, in reality,
know nothing if they can’t submit in humility to understand all that the Lord
is calling them to. Pride inspires in us words and actions that are
condescending to others, and help us stand as a living witness to deceit and
bondage, restlessness and injustice, that all people may be brought low to an everlasting
misery.
My
brothers and sisters, coming here today is one step in accepting the Lord’s
invitation to come to Him and find rest. Coming here today is to recognize
Jesus Christ as meek and humble of heart. Coming here today is acknowledging that
we are the “little ones” of God, and that we have much to learn from Him.
Coming
here today is an act of humility.
Becoming
humble like Christ is a choice, and one that we must make daily. Remember:
Christ only desires our desire of Him. Pride keeps us from this. Yet desiring
nothing but the will of God allows our pride to be swept away by the torrent of
God’s love, as He reorients our distorted hearts back to Him, and we let go of
ourselves, our selfish desires, only to run back to Him with reckless abandon
as one of His “little ones”.
And
we pray:
Most humble Jesus, give me a share of your humility. Take from my
heart everything that displeases you; convert it totally to you, so that I may
no longer will or desire anything other than what you will. Amen.
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Enjoy the journey . . .
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