Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
August 28, 2016 11:00 am · Deacon Rick Nevins
The one who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted. There was a man who took great pride in his work, so much so that he made sure that everybody knew just how good he was at what he did. He bragged quite a bit. One day his efforts were rewarded and he was promoted to the position of vice president in the company he worked for, and the promotion quickly went to his head and for weeks on end he went around telling everybody how he had been promoted, he now a vice president, he was in charge.
His bragging however came to a screeching halt, when his wife came up to him, because she was embarrassed by his behavior, and said, "Listen here Mr. big shot, it's not that big a deal. Now a days there;s a vice president for everything, go to the grocery store, they have a vice president of peas and carrots. " He was a little bit embarrassed, he was deflated, humiliated, so he pulled out his cell phone and put it on speaker so that she could hear, and he dialed the grocery store, and he said, "I'd like to speak to the vice president of peas and carrots.", and the person on the other end said, "Sure, fresh or frozen?". Humiliation can be a tough pill to swallow, but when it comes our way it's definitely the medicine that we all need to accept in order to grow in the virtue of humility and sanctity. What is that you ask? Who wants to be humiliated? Who wants to face humiliation and be mocked as a failure especially in front of their peers, family and friends? To answer that all we have to do is gaze upon a crucifix and look at what love has done for us. To contemplate the words of St Paul to the Philippians, though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God, something to be grasped at. Rather He emptied himself and took the form of a slave being born in the likeness of man. He know to be of human estate, and it was thus He humbled himself, obediently accepting death, even death on the cross. The way of the cross is the way to eternal life. There is no other way to the Father except through the Son who is the Way the Truth and the Life. In his incarnation God became man in the ultimate act of humility.