Fr. JC Maximilian

[Statue of Christ's Victory of the Cross by Michelangelo]

In the past two weeks since I arrived here at St. Theresa’s, as I have started to get to know many of you, I have been hearing a lot of stories.  Isn’t this pretty typical?  When people meet for the first time, they start sharing stories about themselves, especially about their accomplishments.  For example, the people who have chatted with me have learned that I used to be a college professor, that a long time ago I was a Congressional Page in the U.S. House of Representatives, and other things about me.  And I have gotten to know many things about some of you; where you worked, stories about your children and grandchildren.  It has been so much fun getting to hear about the successes and achievements in people’s lives, and I truly hope that we continue to share our stories.

During the Mass, in the Liturgy of the Word, we hear a lot of stories about God and the People of Israel, and of course the Gospels are stories about Jesus.  By modern standards, the stories we hear about Jesus seems to make Him seem like a total failure.  He did not go to college; in fact He probably had very little formal education.  For the last three years of His adult life He had no paying job, and lived off the donations that were generously given to Him and his Apostles by the people who listened to Him.  As far as we know, He had no house and most likely slept under the stars most nights.  He did not have powerful friends among the cultural and political elite.  In fact, He wasn’t even popular among the people of His home town, who once tried to throw Him off a cliff.

Despite all this, St. Paul writes in today’s Second Reading that God the Father has given Jesus “the name that is above every every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend….”  Why did God the Father raise Jesus to the eternal throne of glory, exalting Him so thoroughly, if His life was a failure?  Because God’s standards are so very different than this world’s standards.  According to God’s standards, the one category that really matters, and which Jesus completely triumphed in, is humility.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians which we heard from in today’s Second Reading, shares what seems to be one of the first hymns that Christians sang, which empathizes Christ’s humility.  We hear that Jesus “emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave…” and that “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”  This is what the Church is celebrating in today’s Feast of the Exaltation or Triumph of the Cross; the victory of Christ’s humility over the arrogance of Satan.

Humility is exactly what the Israelites lacked in today’s first reading.  They were in the desert, after God had freed them from slavery in Egypt through a series of magnificent miracles.  They were on their way to the Promise Land, yet all they could focus on was the sand of the desert.  They were grumbling about everything.  They felt that their food, the miraculous manna that God was providing them, was boring.  Their journey was long and hard, true, but God was promising them something so fantastic.  They had forgotten that everything they had came from God’s generous love.  Rather, they started thinking that they deserved a better deal.

In His great love, God taught them humility but humbling them so that they would think more of their mission in life than their comfort in this life.  By sending the serpents, God reminds the Israelites that their lives, their hopes, their freedom, and all of life’s joys are God’s free gift.

Are we ever like those Israelites of old?  Do we ever get so caught up in the trials and struggles of life that we fail to appreciate that everything that we have — literally every beat of our heart and breath we take — are gifts of God’s generous love?  How often do we become blinded by the “desert sand” in our lives that we grumble — about others and perhaps even God?  Should not we rather be joyful in the Lord?

Of course the ultimate lesson in humility is Jesus Christ.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”  Christ is a humble God, more interested in us and our needs than in himself and his comfort.  That’s why Christ’s self-sacrificial death on the cross won an eternal victory over the self-centered self-indulgence of sin.

Humility was clearly the key to Christ’s victory over sin and evil.  For those of us who are Christ’s followers, humility should also be a key characteristic of our lives.  So, how are we doing in this crucial area of our Christian life?  There is an easy way of measuring how humble we are.  We are humble to the degree that we are able to deny ourselves for the good of others.  This is what the Cross is all about, and this is how Jesus summarized what it means to be a Christian, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24).

When we are talking with other people, are we able to concede to others, graciously and without grumbling?  Or do we always insist on our own point of view?

In our daily responsibilities, are we able to work hard, to push ourselves to fulfill our duties, without other people having to recognize and reward us all the time?

Do we use our free time entertainment as a way to recharge our batteries so that we can serve those around us better, or has indulging our own pleasures become an end in itself, a priority that makes us get angry when other people’s needs interfere?

How capable are we of climbing onto our daily cross?  Does Christ’s Cross Triumph in our souls?  To share in Christ Triumph, we must ask for a heart as meek and humble as our Lord’s.