Pride Blocks Grace While Humility Welcomes Divine Love
Homily for Twenty-Second Sunday – 31 August 2025
The emperor, Charlemagne is regarded as the greatest Christian ruler of the early Middle Ages. After his death in 814 a mighty funeral procession left his castle for the cathedral at Aachen in Germany. When the royal casket arrived, with a lot of pomp and circumstance, it was met by the local bishop, who barred the cathedral door. “Who comes?” the bishop asked, as was the custom. The emperor’s proud herald proclaimed, “Charlemagne, Lord and King of the Holy Roman Empire.” “Him I know not,” the bishop replied. “Who comes?” The herald, a bit shaken, replied, “Charles the Great, a good and honest man of the earth.” “Him I know not,” the bishop said again. “Who comes?” The herald, now completely crushed, responded, “Charles, a lowly sinner, who begs the gift of Christ.” To which the bishop responded, “Enter! Receive Christ's gift of life!” This story reminds me of Pope Francis in the early days following his election, when he was asked by journalists who he was, he replied, “ I am sinner on whom the Lord has had mercy.”
The message in the readings for today’s Mass concerns humility. The writer of the book of Sirach, which is also called Ecclesiasticus, says that if we want to please God, the greater we are, the more humbly we should behave. He also calls for us to be gentle in the way we deal with others because a really humble person will automatically be gentle towards others.
Over and over again Jesus gives very clear teaching about the importance of humility. He speaks about the humility in ourselves and the humility with which we should treat others. The bottom line is, as Jesus says, those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. It is not for nothing that pride is listed as the first of the seven deadly sins, and in many ways is the root of all other sins.
In the Gospel for today we hear that when Jesus was invited to supper at the house of an important Pharisee, he noticed the very human tendency to seek honour and recognition in that some of the guests chose the best seats and places of honour at the supper. Jesus’ parable turns this human weakness on its head by advising that it would be better to seek out lower positions. Competing with others for admiration and acknowledgement can be like a bottomless pit; it never can be satisfied and will only result in dissatisfaction and unhappiness. On the contrary, opting out of this need for honour, and choosing the lesser place in the situations of life in which we find ourselves, will lead to true peace and real happiness.
St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, in his spiritual exercises, speaks of the spiritual practice of agere contra, to act against. This practice that when we become aware of a weakness or temptation or ambition in ourselves, we can deliberately choose the opposite, as a means to spiritual growth and pleasing God. For instance, when we become aware of an urge within ourselves to put ourselves first, we can consciously and interiorly choose the opposite. St Thérèse of Lisieux wrote about one particular sister in the convent driving her crazy and with whom she found it very difficult to be patient, and yet this same sister, not knowing how Thérèse really felt, said of Thérèse that she experienced extraordinary kindness and gentleness from her. Thérèse chose the opposite of her weakness.
Humility is a crucial virtue for us Christians. St Bernard of Clairvaux, the 12th century mystic and Doctor of the Church, when he was asked what the three most important aspects of the spiritual life are, said, “Humility, humility and humility.” And yet, humility is such a challenging virtue because it is difficult to describe it or understand it fully. There is no step- by-step programme for achieving humility.
We can stop and think for ourselves of someone we know who is humble. What is it about that person that we can say that they are humble? This might be a good way to understand and appreciate humility, that is, in recognising it in others. And yet it would be inappropriate to regard ourselves as already having achieved humility. In fact, we might say that if a person thinks they are humble, they probably aren’t. Humility is more appropriately a virtue recognised in others and strived for and prayed for by us.
The clearest and most succinct teaching on Christian humility that I have come across is that of St Francis of Assisi, writing in the early 13th century: One of his admonitions was on humility. “What a person is before God, that they are, nothing more, nothing less”. The “nothing more” in this admonition refers to the kind of humility that we hear about in the first reading and in the Gospel today. Humility is recognizing that what we have and who we are, is by grace. We are not self-made people. A humble person knows this and is quick to give thanks and praise to God.
We are very good at deceiving ourselves and others. We might easily convince ourselves that we are better than we really are. Yet God knows us, and he sees us as we are. It would do us good from time to time to take a good look at ourselves and see ourselves from God’s perspective, not forgetting that God is merciful, lest we fall into despair.
The second part of the admonition of St Francis is just as true: We are what we are before God, “nothing less”. There is no place for false humility in the Christian life. Modesty and graciousness, yes, but not false humility. They are not the same thing. There is no virtue in denying the gifts and talents that we have. We should acknowledge our gifts and talents and give thanks to the One who has given us these things. True humility sees everything as gift. And acknowledging our gifts, we should use our gifts and talents for the service of others. This “nothing less” also applies to others. We need to see others and treat them according to the way that God sees them.
Humility in us, gives permission to God to give us grace and work with us. The person who thinks they are fine just as they are, doesn’t know their need for God. One beautiful anecdote again from St Francis of Assisi is that he was observed praying over and over again, one sentence right through the night: “Who are you Lord, and what am I?” St Francis was able to know his complete and utter dependence on God. Having had a glimpse of the immensity, of the goodness and beauty of God, and knowing his own littleness and weakness, he was able to welcome and experience the love of God for him.
Our knowing God, or having had glimpses of who God is, makes us realise our littleness, our dependence on God. Knowing ourselves as “nothing more, nothing less,” keeps us humble because we are reminded that we are all dependent on God’s mercy. Knowing God makes us humble; really knowing ourselves should keep us humble.
Takashi Nagai, the Japanese Catholic doctor, who survived the atom bomb blast at Nagasaki, and who spent his life looking after other survivors, wrote: “All of us will have to render an account of our lives when we die. God will not be interested in who or what we were. No, only in this: how did we live? That will be the sole matter for judgment. A company director won't be able to pull rank on a waiter, and a fisherman's wife will be on a par with a millionaire's wife. Ships' officers will receive no preference over ships' cooks. All will be judged by exactly the same measure: did we use our talents well and for his glory?”
