HUMILITY, THE WAY OF GOD.
September 19, 2021
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – B.
“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all
and the servant of all.” (Mk 9:35)
A Sicilian proverb says: “Asparagus and mushrooms teach a
cook humility.” And an Indian proverb adds: “Austerity is an ornament, humility
is honorable.”
The Church of the poor is a community that welcomes and
embraces the least fortunate, the forsaken, the marginalized, the poorest of
the poor. Someone said the Church of Pope Francis is the Church of the poor. I
will go further by saying the Church of Jesus Christ is the Church of the poor.
The Church of God is the Church of the poor. Because God has a preferential
option for the poor and the humble.
These assertions are not beatification of poverty but an
emphasis on how the humble people are more opened to God and the Gospel, and
so, closer to him. Real poverty is not as so much on material possession, but
mostly on rights and dignity. The Church of the poor in that sense is a Church
that fights for human rights and dignity when systems and politics deny it to
them or oppress them. The Church of the poor is "a Church [that] will
courageously defend and vindicate the rights of the poor and the oppressed even
when doing so will mean alienation or persecution from the rich and
powerful…" (Cf. Manila Standard, CBCP - the bishops of the Philippines,
Second Plenary Council, in 1991). God stands by the oppressed because he is the
God Father of the poor.
In the first reading, the book of Wisdom reveals the fate
that evildoers reserve to the righteous. Out of jealousy, they plot against him
to lay him down. The way of the righteous contradicts that of the evildoers and
so, they say: "Let us beset the just one because he is obnoxious to us; he
sets himself against our doings..." The life of the little ones in the
society and the conditions of the marginalized are obviously, an accusation to
the rich and the systems set to oppress and reduce them to poverty. No one is
poor by choice. It is the system that makes one rich and another one poor.
There are the conditions and policies or politics that enslave and lead to
poverty. In society, we get to know that one is poor because, besides him,
there is one who gets rich and richer beyond reason. God has not created anyone
to be poor. It is the society that manufactures the poor and opposes or
discriminates them against the rich. God, however, does not forsake the little
ones. So, the psalmist sings, God will always uphold their lives and give them
preeminence in his kingdom.
In the Gospel, to his disciples arguing about the position
and to know who is the greatest in God's kingdom, the Lord teaches a lesson on
humility. "Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his
arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my
name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who
sent me.”" God's greatest friends are the humbles, those who know how to
surrender to him, the little ones, and those we see as defenseless. Is there
any greater image of poverty than that of a child? The existence of a child is
decided over by others. He lives under the guidance and all for him is taken
care of. That is what God expects of us, to depend on him. One of the utmost
virtues of a child is his righteousness. St. James in the second reading
incenses that righteousness. The fruit of righteousness, he says, is sown in
peace for those who cultivate peace.
As Christians, we should make ours these exhortations of the
Apostle James and live them rightly. James says, "where jealousy and
selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice." Let us
just look at our world and get it true. All that we see and face today are
fruits of jealousy, selfishness, lack of humility, greed... The world will
change only when we will value humility and defend the rights of the less
fortunate of our brothers and sisters, and that is the mission of the Church of
God.
The Apostle goes further, asking: “Where do the wars and
where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that
make war within your members?” It could sound very sad, but this is a
stark-naked truth that envy and jealousy are the roots of many evil. So, St.
James adds, “You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot
obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. You
ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
Poor people, the real poor are not envious. They just strive
for their daily need and are content with the little they have. Though they cry
a lot, they also know how to be happy for little. The wicked, instead, are
those who seek and seek and seek and are never satisfied. Jealous people are
eternal insatiable, always hungry, and also angry. On the other hand, the
humility of the child to which the Lord invites his followers is to learn how
to be happy for little materially and to want for more spiritually.
Comments
Post a Comment