The texts from the Roman Carholic Lectionary today resonate with the understanding that humility is the foundation of all virtues, through which the Spirit may reveal truth beauty and goodness in the world around us.
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| Beginning with humility |
The Book of Sirach declares the Hebrew wisdom of God punishing the proud and the merciless and coming to the aid of the distressed is superior to the Greek philosophy of the time.
* [35:1–26] Keeping the commandments of the law and avoiding injustice constitute sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God (vv. 1–5). Offerings also should be made to him, cheerfully and generously; these he repays sevenfold (vv. 6–13). Extortion from widows and orphans is injustice, and God will hear their cries (vv. 14–22a). Punishing the proud and the merciless and coming to the aid of the distressed, he requites everyone according to their deeds (vv. 22b–26).1
Psalm 34 offers praise to God for deliverance from trouble.
* [Psalm 34] A thanksgiving in acrostic form, each line beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In this Psalm one letter is missing and two are in reverse order. The psalmist, fresh from the experience of being rescued (Ps 34:5, 7), can teach the “poor,” those who are defenseless, to trust in God alone (Ps 34:4, 12). God will make them powerful (Ps 34:5–11) and give them protection (Ps 34:12–22).2
The passage from the Second Letter to Timothy declares the reward for fidelity is found in the Spirit overcoming Paul’s loneliness.
* [4:14–18] Alexander: an opponent of Paul’s preaching (2 Tm 4:14–15), perhaps the one who is mentioned in 1 Tm 1:20. Despite Paul’s abandonment by his friends in the province of Asia (cf. 2 Tm 1:15–16), the divine assistance brought this first trial to a successful issue, even to the point of making the gospel message known to those who participated in or witnessed the trial (2 Tm 4:16–17).3
Jesus uses the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax-Collector in the Gospel of Luke to illustrate how self righteousness is a separation from God.
* [18:15–17] The sayings on children furnish a contrast to the attitude of the Pharisee in the preceding episode (Lk 18:9–14) and that of the wealthy official in the following one (Lk 18:18–23) who think that they can lay claim to God’s favor by their own merit. The attitude of the disciple should be marked by the receptivity and trustful dependence characteristic of the child.4
Rev. Richard Gabuzda raises the question of what one sees, how one sees, and reminds us of the haunting phrase spoken by the Lord in 1 Samuel 16, 7. “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.”
How do we acquire such sight, eyes that see as the Lord sees? One only begins to see with God’s eyes when the heart has been humbled. Knowing our own sinfulness, our identity as loved sinners, gives us new eyes so that we look out on the world and, especially on other people, the way God does. When we see others from such a heart, we see brothers and sisters who are “like me,” in contrast with the eyes of the Pharisee, who does not see from the heart and can only observe that “I am not like the rest of humanity.”5
Don Schwager quotes “The medicine of repentance,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"How useful and necessary a medicine is repentance! People who remember that they are only human will readily understand this. It is written, 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble' (1 Peter 5:5, James 4:6, Job 22:29, Proverbs 3:34). The Pharisee was not rejoicing so much in his own clean bill of health as in comparing it with the diseases of others. He came to the doctor. It would have been more worthwhile to inform him by confession of the things that were wrong with himself instead of keeping his wounds secret and having the nerve to crow over the scars of others. It is not surprising that the tax collector went away cured, since he had not been ashamed of showing where he felt pain." (excerpt from Sermon 351.1)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 18:9-14 comments that we each have a little of the Pharisee and a little of the tax collector in us.
The Pharisee, pleased with the perfection of his prayer, leaves just as he came in: convinced of his own righteousness and despising everyone else (Luke 18:9). But the tax collector leaves feeling free. With a lighter step and a brave smile on his face, he heads home. Tomorrow he will apologize to his neighbors and return their money.7
Friar Jude Winkler shares the goodness in Hebrew faith of God who brings justice to widows and orphans and raises them up. Faith is the trust beyond trusting in the Love of God in our circumstances. Friar Jude reminds us that the lack of humility of the Pharisee points to becoming his own god.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that when Martin Luther (1483–1546) posted his “95 Theses” or complaints on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, European Christianity had become too focused on meritocracy and hierarchy, losing sight of the Gospel. The Roman Catholic Church itself now admits it is always in need of reformation. The perpetual process of conversion, or reformation, is needed by all individuals and institutions. We appear to be in the midst of another period of significant turmoil and rebirth…
In North America and much of Europe, we are witnessing a dramatic increase in “nones,” people who don’t identify with a particular faith tradition. While I ache for those who have been wounded by religion and no longer feel at home in church, the dissatisfaction within Christianity has sparked some necessary and healthy changes. Episcopal Bishop Mark Dyer (1930–2014) aptly called these recurring periods of upheaval giant “rummage sales” in which the church rids itself of what is no longer needed and rediscovers treasures it had forgotten.
As Phyllis Tickle (1934–2015) reflected, in the process of building necessary structure in institutions, we eventually “elaborate, encrust, and finally embalm them with the accretion of both our fervor and our silliness. At that point there is no hope for either religion or society, save only to knock the whole carapace off ourselves and start over again.” [1] This is a difficult and frightening task, which is why we only seem to do it every 500 years or so! If we look at church history, we can see the pattern. [2]8
The Spirit responds to build our faith as we seek humility and trust in the midst of change that is urging our continued conversion and reformation.
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