Mathew 25: 14-30 (Sunday, September 2, 2007)

In today’s readings, we are invited to become humble persons. One of the things we learn from these readings is that humility leads to greatness. Humility is the pathway to exaltation. When Jesus exhorts his followers in the gospel of today, “whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” he is not making an empty statement but this is truly what he believes and it plays out in his life. Jesus Christ is the primary model of humility for the Christian people. St. Paul rightly describes him thus in Philippians 2:6, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. … he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on the cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.” Jesus Christ in Matthew 11: 29 tells us, “learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”

Jesus’ humility guaranteed his exaltation. Here, he stands in great contrast with Lucifer the angel of light who failed in humility. St. John Simachus tells us that humility is the only virtue that the devil cannot imitate. If pride made angels into demons, humility makes demons into angels. There is the story of Satan appearing to one of the desert monks. He kept appearing to him in the form of an angel of light giving him messages and trying to make him feel so special and proud. This monk continued living his life of simplicity and humility. After some time, the devil getting frustrated said to him, “all that you do, I can do; but the only thing you do that I cannot do is your humility.” The monk was able to resist the devil because of his humility.

If we are humble people, not only that God helps us to resist the temptation of pride, but he brings us forgiveness. Humble people are able to look at themselves and says, I have really made wrong choices. People who are not humble would always look for ways to justify away their mistakes. They always look for people to blame for their mistakes. In 1 Kings 21, Ahab wanted Naboth to sell him his vineyard. Naboth refused. This caused Ahab great pain that he refused to eat. His wife Jezebel accused Naboth of cursing God and king and had him stoned to death. After that, she convinced Ahab to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard. When Ahab went to take possession of the vineyard, the Lord sent Prophet Elijah to prophecy to him. The Lord said, “In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood too. I am bringing evil upon you. I will destroy you and will cut off every male in Ahabs line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel.” When Ahab heard this, he tore his gaments and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh as a sign of his repentance. When the Lord saw this, he said, “since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his time.”

What we really need as a country is humility. We are quick to proclaim how great a nation. We boast about our military might and our power to subdue all nations. Our lack of humility will not let us confess that we made a mistake with Iraq. What we need today is the humility of Ahab to recognize that we have really sinned and that our sin if not repented of, will lead to our destruction. We as a nation need to mourn of our national sins. We need to do a national fast and penance. The religious right that is quick to support and defend the war with the bible need to recognize that we have sinned and have failed God in the power he has given to us as a nation. We cannot separate the things that are going on in our nation today from our social sins. Our economy is in big trouble; natural and man made disasters everywhere; everyday our fine soldiers are exposed to more and more risks in Iraq. God is inviting us as a nation to humble ourselves. 2Chronicles 7:14 tells us, “if my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land.” God wants to restore our nation but we must humble ourselves, acknowledge our sinfulness and pray. Talking politics is not enough; congress would not help us either. Reviving our country is a spiritual battle and it must start from the grassroots. The question today is how we at St. Margaret Mary can bring about this spiritual revival. It is not enough to come to church on Sunday and to even say to me at the end of the Mass, “nice homily Father.” I want to see people who want to change our nation come forward with ideas on how we can first revive Parkersburg, then the whole of Wood county, the state of West Virginia and the whole country. We can have a day of prayer and fasting across different Christian denominations. But that change must start here at St. Margaret Mary Church.

We can never become the people that God wants us to be if we fail to live out radically the virtue of humility. We are told in the book of James 4:10 that if you humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, the lord will lift you up. Your humility will cause you to find favor with God. What is greater than being favorable in the eyes of God? When you are favorable in the eyes of God, he will pour abundantly his graces and blessings. It means, you will become a special person. God found favor in the Blessed Virgin Mary and she was called the Blessed one. God found favor in Abraham and he was blessed.

Let us today begin a process of becoming humble people, so that God will bless us and bless our land. This will mean doing such little things as adults respecting the opinions of younger people and taking corrections from them and younger people trusting in the wisdom of older people; this will mean seeking forgiveness from those you have hurt or who have hurt you; this means making yourself available to others who need your help; this also means working actively to bring about a change in the national policies of our country.
It is by doing these things, that we will truly be people of humility – becoming the people God has called us to be.