Jan. 30, 2011: 4th Sunday Ordinary (A)

Click to hear audio homily

At an altar server training several months ago, I was telling the kids that something very special happens at the altar at Mass. I told them that angels and saints are all around at Mass. I explained that where Jesus is, all of Heaven has to be present. I used examples of little children of 3 or 4 whose parents tell me that their child sees and interacts with angels and saints. Sometimes, literally, I have angels with me as I say Mass. One of the angels is named Heidi who is a much, much older altar server. She always has a beautiful smile for me as she brings up the Sacramentary book. As she opens up the book for me, I think to myself, 'Here before me is an angel, because she has the innocence and purity of heart.' After mass, Heidi always comes and gives me the warmest hug. And I think to myself, 'I have been hugged by an angel.'

Now that I'm a priest, I spend a lot of time in the church and at the altar. As I enter different Catholic churches, I first try to find out where the Tabernacle is so that I can genuflect toward Jesus. Then I try to find out where the Crucifix, Blessed Mother's statue, and St. Joseph's statue are so that I can go venerate them. But you know there was a time in my life when I could have cared less about the Tabernacle, the Crucifix, Blessed Mother's statue, or St. Joseph's statue. That was the time when I saw them simply as decorations in a church and not God's literal presence. I remember almost 20-years ago when my family traveled to Rome. We went as tourists. At that moment in my life, God was non-existent in my mind and heart. Each Catholic church we visited, I saw all the beautiful things inside the church, but they meant nothing to me. I didn't genuflect toward the Tabernacle, I didn't bow toward the Crucifix, nor did I stop at statues of saints to offer a quick prayer. My knees were stiff with pride and very little humility. In my mind, God was a man-made concept, made up by weak individuals who needed something to cling onto. So for me, the churches were less interesting than the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Roman Colosseum. I was a tourist, looking for the next famous monument. I was not a pilgrim, looking for what I could receive.

I was thinking about that part of my life when I was reflecting on the readings for this Sunday. In the First Reading, we hear the exhortation, "Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth, who have observed his law; seek justice, seek humility." And the Responsorial Psalm has us reply, "Blessed the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!" For the longest time I did not understand what humility meant and why we needed humility. As I grew in faith, I began to realize why I needed to let go of pride and ask for the grace of humility. When my knees refused to bend toward Jesus, I was filled with pride, and I was thinking and living as though I was an equal or greater to God. It was no different than the Pharisees who could not recognize God right in front of them and who refused to listen to Him because of their pride. Once we open ourselves to God's gift of humility, we receive the ability to see God, as Jesus told us in the Gospel, "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God." Sometimes, our children shake us out of our pride by their innocence and humility. Our little children sometime see through their purity of heart, something that we grownups cannot see. I witnessed this in one of the churches I visited when I was on a pilgrimage.

I was in the Basilica of St. Padre Pio in Italy, marveling at the beautiful structure of the church when I heard a commotion near the altar. I heard, "Marco! Marco!" And when I turned, I saw a man passing around the rope that kept pilgrims from approaching the altar. I realized that standing behind the rope were Marco's parents who were trying to call back their son from approaching the altar. Marco looked like he was in his 40's. What caught my attention was that Marco went straight to the Crucifix and stayed before the Crucifix with his head bowed down for a good minute or two. There before the Crucifix, I saw someone who was conversing with Jesus who was hanging from the Cross. Marco was not seeing a plaster statue of Jesus; he was truly seeing Jesus who loved Marco--Jesus who was suffering for Marco. I imagined that Marco was thanking Jesus for what He was doing on the Cross. Marco then made the sign of the Cross and went back to his parents who were very upset. For me, pure souls like Marco and Heidi (our altar server) made today's Second Reading come alive.

Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God... “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1:26-31)

Let's ask from Jesus for that gift of humility, to be able to see Him and to realize how much He suffers for us because He loves us. When we begin to see Jesus and converse with Him daily as Marco did, we will know we are never alone and that Jesus personally guides us.