Homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Bend The Stick The Other Way

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Bridget Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, August 28, 2022

The central message of the Bible is that there is one true Good, God alone. For this reason, the Bible beckons, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve” (Luke 4:8). This command to worship and serve the one true God is at the heart of the Christian enterprise. It means that God alone should be the center of our life. It means that other things that take our attention away from God are finally idols and false gods. So, to make them the center of our life is to commit idolatry and engage in false worship. Sadly, there are people who are in love not with God, but with money. To acquire money, they will do anything, break any law and hurt any person. Why? Because they made money (wealth) their god and the center of their lives. Others love power. To attain it and retain it, they will do almost anything— break any law, hurt any person because they have made power their god and center of their concern. We also have people who love pleasure— pleasure of the body. To obtain it in its various forms they will do almost anything, break any law, hurt any person. Why? Because they’ve  made pleasure, one of the classic alternatives to the true Good, their god and the center of their lives. Now there are some people who care less about money and wealth. They care less about power. Power is not their thing. They also care less about pleasure. In fact they are willing to give up all kinds of pleasure. But what they want, what they are hungry for, the center of their life is honor. They want to be admired. They want all the attention, everyone looking at them and hailing them. They want to be in the spotlight. For a lot of people, this is an intoxicating good. For honor, they are willing to break any law, hurt any person just to attain and remain in the spotlight. They have made honor or fame their god. You see these people all over the place. Look at the politicians. Of great importance to them and other famous people is the hunger for fame and glory. Like wealth, power, and pleasure, honor is also a false god. But it is not the ultimate good. 

But the truth is that those who are addicted to honor are hardly free. How come? You can be doing the best thing and achieving the best thing, but if the crowd does not like you you are not happy. On the other hand, you can be doing the worst thing that is damaging to you and others, but if the crowd likes you, you are alright. Is the crowd very good at honoring the right people? Once in a while they might honor the right persons, like Mother Teresa of Calcutta. In her case, the crowd showed good taste and good judgment. But most of the time, people who get honored and admired are the worst kind of people. People who are truly good, truly righteous, truly full of love etc. are often ignored by the crowd. So when you put your life in the hands of the admiring crowd, you flush authentic goodness down the toilet. You put your life in the hands of very dubious people. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, honor in itself does not add one bit to your life. When you are honored and admired by the crowd, when you are in the spotlight, does it add one ounce to the substance of your life? Does it add to your own goodness, to your own truthfulness, to your own righteousness and integrity? Heck no! It does not add one drop to it. Honor is simply a kind of indication. It’s pointing to something worth looking at. That’s why the Church honors the saints. The Church points to the saints and asks us to admire them because there is something in them that is worth imitating. But in itself, honor, admiration and glory adds nothing substantial to you. 

Look at it this way! If you are quietly reading a good book at home and savoring the truth contained in it without anyone noticing you, there is more value in that than in the applause of a million people. If you are engaging in one of the corporal works of mercy or helping a child do his homework and no one sees you and admires you, there is more truth, more substance in being in that than in the cheers of a million people. Honor adds nothing substantial to your reality. If you are looking at a beautiful sunset, admiring the countryside and admiring God’s beauty, and no one notices you, there is more truth, more value in that simple act than in the admiration of a million people. There is more value in the simple act of reading a book at home and taking its truth. If the whole world knows about you and admires you, so what?

What’s the antidote to this false god? What do we do if we are addicted to honor and fame and admiration? Our today’s readings tell us what to do. The first reading from the Book of Sirach says, “conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are and you will find favor with God.” The watchword, everybody is humility. When St. Augustine was asked to name the three most important things in spiritual life, he said the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is humility. To be humble is to be connected to reality. What’s that reality? That you are not God, rather a mere mortal. Forget about vainglory, and be in touch with the simple reality. If your temptation is to be great in the eyes of the world, bend the stick back the other way. The more you are honored, the more you should become humble. In the Gospel, Jesus urges that we not sit in the place of honor when we are invited to a wedding party or else when someone greater arrives, the host might ask that we vacate our position for him. What you should do when you are invited is to sit in the lowest place. People who are in love with honor will definitely hijack the high places of honor. In the workplace, they will hijack the highest positions. Why? So as to be noticed and admired by the crowd. If honor is your problem and temptation, just do the opposite. Bend the stick the other way. Move in the opposite direction. Strive instead not to be noticed. I know doing this is not easy, especially if you are addicted to honor. But you must strive to wrestle your soul from this addiction. Without humility, it is impossible to please God.