God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Homily:
A humble person acknowledges that God is his provider. He does not think that he is all sufficient for himself. He does not think more highly of himself than others or lowly of himself compared to others. Sometimes people think that a sad, gloomy face is a sign of humbleness. It is not so. A happy bright face glorifies God rather than a sad face.
A humble person always glorifies God. Let us ponder on humbleness from the readings of today.
Perform your tasks with humility (from First reading):
When God asked Moses and Aaron to strike the rock, water flowed out from the rock in the desert immediately. They took the credit themselves instead of confessing it was the hand of God. It prevented them from entering the promised land. We too may miss many of our promised lands when we do not give the credit to our Almighty God. When people keep talking about themselves, it is frustrating for us. Likewise it will be frustrating for God too, when we keep talking about our own selves.
It is one of the reasons why humble people find life simpler. They find ways in difficult circumstances too. The magic is “God creates the ladder especially for them”. Even in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ we find that the proud Pharisees found a tough Jesus, but the humble crowd found a loving Jesus. Since it is the nature of our God to resist the proud and lift up the humble.
If we are proud, thinking that we are smart enough to run our own lives, our loving God helps us to understand the reality. Deuteronomy 8:3 says “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” The Israelites were humbled where God became their only provider for daily food and water in the wilderness.
When we are proud, we are also led into the path of wilderness and then into the path of joy, when we become humble.
The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favour in the sight of the Lord (from First reading):
When David was in the peak of his glory, he humbled himself in front of the ark of the Covenant by just wearing a cloth and praising God and dancing in front of the ark of Covenant. This he did not do in his private place, but he did in front of all the people in a procession. He humbled himself in front of God. God was happy with his love and humility.
When King Solomon built the temple for God and praised Him with 1000 praises, he was in his kingly robes. God was impressed with him also.
We can be humble like King David or King Solomon. As the first reading says, our God will be glorified by our humbleness.
When calamity befalls the proud, there is no healing, for an evil plant has taken root in him (from First reading):
When God became man as our Lord Jesus and dwelt among them also, the proud Pharisees and Sadducees could not feel the divine presence of God. Proudness shielded them from the experience of God also. The once upon time “Angels” fell from Heaven into Hell as “devils” just because of their pride.
You have come to God the judge of all (from Second reading):
The second reading says that we are walking towards Heaven where Almighty God, the judge of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, Angels and to the spirits of the righteous, reside. When we are waiting for our turn to be judged by our Almighty God, surely there will not be any spirit of pride in us.
The Bible always says, “God resists the proud..” It never says, “God resists the sinners..”
We should resist pride now, so that God will not resist us later.
For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (from Gospel reading):
When a prostitute was brought to our Lord Jesus Christ to be stoned, our Lord Jesus forgave the prostitute but resisted the proud Pharisees. She went away cleansed from her sins joyfully, but the proud people went away burdened.
Our Lord Jesus explains this with the parable of the proud Pharisee and the humble tax collector. Though the tax collector sinned, when he felt sorry for his sins and humbled himself in front of God and pleaded for forgiveness, our Almighty Father forgave him. On the other hand, when the Pharisee obeyed all the good commandments but was proud as he considered himself righteous above others (his words were: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector”), he could not receive any mercy from God. His righteous deeds were erased just because he considered himself higher than others.
Is being righteous a cause of pride?
No. When Mother Teresa was asked the secret behind all her accomplishments, she simply replied in two words, “Jesus Christ”. She said that our Lord Jesus can make anyone do this job. “It is because He had chosen me, that I am able to do all He wanted me to do.”
Mother Teresa humbly served our Lord, and our Lord exalted her.
When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled.. (from Gospel reading):
Our Lord Jesus says, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
We often consider that blessed are those who have good family, friends, fame or money. But our Lord Jesus Christ says that the blessed are those who give to the poor or crippled or lame or anyone who cannot repay you – in other words “help the needy”. We can easily become blessed!! Lots of people are suffering around us, and in need of peace. Lonely people need listeners. We can become the listening ear of our Lord Jesus. It helps them to come out of depression or prevent them from going into depression. Most people do not need riches but they need one of their needs to be met, either good clothing or shoes or payment of a bill which many of us can afford. We can be the helping hand of our Lord Jesus then. People are suffering in hospitals or at home. Once I came to know of an elderly person who was staying alone, not able to take the required medicines for three months. The reason is he did not have anyone to go to shop and buy medication for him as he was staying alone. We can be the legs for some of those poor suffering souls.
In the autobiography of the soul, Little Thérèse of the Child Jesus explains that when she was taking care of a suffering nun, she saw a vision. In that vision she saw girls of her age in brightly coloured party halls, wearing beautiful dresses and exchanging greetings with each other. In contrast she saw the dull walls of the convent, the poverty of the place. God showed her how much He treasured her service in contrast to the girls of her youth partying there.
Our Lord Jesus considered His child Little Thérèse in the poor convent more blessed than the girls partying in the rich banquet halls.
Can we be the blessed ‘Little Thérèse’ of our times, our God is looking for?
Key Message:
God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Homily:
A humble person acknowledges that God is his provider. He does not think that he is all sufficient for himself. He does not think more highly of himself than others or lowly of himself compared to others. Sometimes people think that a sad, gloomy face is a sign of humbleness. It is not so. A happy bright face glorifies God rather than a sad face.
A humble person always glorifies God. Let us ponder on humbleness from the readings of today.
Perform your tasks with humility (from First reading):
When God asked Moses and Aaron to strike the rock, water flowed out from the rock in the desert immediately. They took the credit themselves instead of confessing it was the hand of God. It prevented them from entering the promised land. We too may miss many of our promised lands when we do not give the credit to our Almighty God. When people keep talking about themselves, it is frustrating for us. Likewise it will be frustrating for God too, when we keep talking about our own selves.
It is one of the reasons why humble people find life simpler. They find ways in difficult circumstances too. The magic is “God creates the ladder especially for them”. Even in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ we find that the proud Pharisees found a tough Jesus, but the humble crowd found a loving Jesus. Since it is the nature of our God to resist the proud and lift up the humble.
If we are proud, thinking that we are smart enough to run our own lives, our loving God helps us to understand the reality. Deuteronomy 8:3 says “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” The Israelites were humbled where God became their only provider for daily food and water in the wilderness.
When we are proud, we are also led into the path of wilderness and then into the path of joy, when we become humble.
The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favour in the sight of the Lord (from First reading):
When David was in the peak of his glory, he humbled himself in front of the ark of the Covenant by just wearing a cloth and praising God and dancing in front of the ark of Covenant. This he did not do in his private place, but he did in front of all the people in a procession. He humbled himself in front of God. God was happy with his love and humility.
When King Solomon built the temple for God and praised Him with 1000 praises, he was in his kingly robes. God was impressed with him also.
We can be humble like King David or King Solomon. As the first reading says, our God will be glorified by our humbleness.
When calamity befalls the proud, there is no healing, for an evil plant has taken root in him (from First reading):
When God became man as our Lord Jesus and dwelt among them also, the proud Pharisees and Sadducees could not feel the divine presence of God. Proudness shielded them from the experience of God also. The once upon time “Angels” fell from Heaven into Hell as “devils” just because of their pride.
You have come to God the judge of all (from Second reading):
The second reading says that we are walking towards Heaven where Almighty God, the judge of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, Angels and to the spirits of the righteous, reside. When we are waiting for our turn to be judged by our Almighty God, surely there will not be any spirit of pride in us.
The Bible always says, “God resists the proud..” It never says, “God resists the sinners..”
We should resist pride now, so that God will not resist us later.
For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (from Gospel reading):
When a prostitute was brought to our Lord Jesus Christ to be stoned, our Lord Jesus forgave the prostitute but resisted the proud Pharisees. She went away cleansed from her sins joyfully, but the proud people went away burdened.
Our Lord Jesus explains this with the parable of the proud Pharisee and the humble tax collector. Though the tax collector sinned, when he felt sorry for his sins and humbled himself in front of God and pleaded for forgiveness, our Almighty Father forgave him. On the other hand, when the Pharisee obeyed all the good commandments but was proud as he considered himself righteous above others (his words were: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector”), he could not receive any mercy from God. His righteous deeds were erased just because he considered himself higher than others.
Is being righteous a cause of pride?
No. When Mother Teresa was asked the secret behind all her accomplishments, she simply replied in two words, “Jesus Christ”. She said that our Lord Jesus can make anyone do this job. “It is because He had chosen me, that I am able to do all He wanted me to do.”
Mother Teresa humbly served our Lord, and our Lord exalted her.
When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled.. (from Gospel reading):
Our Lord Jesus says, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
We often consider that blessed are those who have good family, friends, fame or money. But our Lord Jesus Christ says that the blessed are those who give to the poor or crippled or lame or anyone who cannot repay you – in other words “help the needy”. We can easily become blessed!! Lots of people are suffering around us, and in need of peace. Lonely people need listeners. We can become the listening ear of our Lord Jesus. It helps them to come out of depression or prevent them from going into depression. Most people do not need riches but they need one of their needs to be met, either good clothing or shoes or payment of a bill which many of us can afford. We can be the helping hand of our Lord Jesus then. People are suffering in hospitals or at home. Once I came to know of an elderly person who was staying alone, not able to take the required medicines for three months. The reason is he did not have anyone to go to shop and buy medication for him as he was staying alone. We can be the legs for some of those poor suffering souls.
In the autobiography of the soul, Little Thérèse of the Child Jesus explains that when she was taking care of a suffering nun, she saw a vision. In that vision she saw girls of her age in brightly coloured party halls, wearing beautiful dresses and exchanging greetings with each other. In contrast she saw the dull walls of the convent, the poverty of the place. God showed her how much He treasured her service in contrast to the girls of her youth partying there.
Our Lord Jesus considered His child Little Thérèse in the poor convent more blessed than the girls partying in the rich banquet halls.
Can we be the blessed ‘Little Thérèse’ of our times, our God is looking for?