It was difficult to settle on something to preach about this weekend because the readings contain so many thoughts themes for reflection. However, there is an undercurrent that unites all the scriptures we just heard. That theme is humility, a quality that is often misunderstood and even mocked by the secular world. But the Word of God doesn’t just praise humility, it ties it directly to happiness. Not the happiness of the world which can be here one day and gone the next, but the deep-seated joy that can exist even in the midst of suffering, poverty, and persecution.
The world humility comes from the latin word “humus” which means “grounded” or “from the earth”. The word literally reminds us of where we came from and where we are headed. We hear this sober truth every Ash Wednesday when ashes are put on our forehead and the minister says, “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” The word and the virtue recall the fact that we were nothing but dust until God created us and breathed his very life into us in the first moments of creation.
True humility is knowing where we stand before God; in other words remembering that he is the creator and we are the created. Humility moves us to acknowledge our gifts, talents and blessings, to develop and use them to the best of our ability but also to realize that we have them from God, not ourselves. True humility requires a person to be strong, secure, and honest. A humble person is not afraid to say the things he or she may not know or be able to do. A humble person doesn’t feel threatened when someone else is praised. A humble person can accept criticism, even when it is given poorly or by someone who is less than perfect, and still use it to improve and grow. Humility is incredibly freeing. It releases us from the quicksand of trying to maintain the appearance of always being strong, having all the answers or being in control.
For many, humility seems to be a sort of weakness because our understanding of the virtue is just a caricature. When some people think of humility, they think of downplaying success or accomplishments. For example, if you go up to the lector at Mass and say, “you did a wonderful job proclaiming the readings” we might think the humble thing to do would be for the lector to lower their head, deny that they did anything well, and make some sort of self-deprecating joke. In reality, humility would be to accept the compliment by saying “thank-you” or “praise God” or “this is a way I can give back to others”. Humility is not mediocrity or being timid. It is not denying that we have a gift or can do things well. In fact, true humility challenges us to be excellent in everything we can not for our own glory but for God’s. The humble person has a certain gracefulness that accepts praise and somehow redirects it to God.
The virtue of humility is the key to experiencing the true and lasting happiness laid out for us in the beatitudes of the gospel. It keeps us from fixating on how to be happy and helps us to accept where we are, what we have, and who we are. To be humble is to do the best we can with what we have and trust that God will provide the rest.
It reminds me of a story of a conversation between a puppy and an older dog. The little puppy noticed that whenever he was happy, his tail wagged, so he thought he had discovered the secret to happiness. He shared the secret of happiness with an older dog. He said, "I have learned that the best thing for a dog is to be happy, and that happiness is in my tail. So I am going to chase my tail; and when I catch it, I shall have happiness. The old dog replied, "I too believe that happiness is a marvelous thing for a dog, and that happiness is in my tail. But I have noticed that whenever I chase my tail, it keeps running away from me; but when I go about my business, it follows me wherever I go.
Many of us are like the little puppy chasing his tail - trying to find true happiness that is always just out of our reach. What we need to do is learn that if we make humility a central part of our life, going about our business and trusting in the Lord, happiness will follow us wherever we go.
We are not in charge, God is. His foolishness is wiser than our wisdom. He can bring happiness into people and situations the world has given up on. That is the lesson of the readings today, a lesson filled with hope and happiness. If we foster humility in our life, we can be happy in any circumstance because we will let God lead us. How badly do we want to be happy? How strongly do we desire to be blessed? Is it enough to make us want to embrace a humble life? Seek to live with humility and then rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven!
