May Jesus Christ be
praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.
For the past three
Sundays we have been hearing from the Letter to the Hebrews. We were invited to follow Abraham as a model
in our life of faith. We were invited to
live our life of faith in communion with the great cloud of witnesses who have
gone before and who still encourage us.
We were invited to accept the loving discipline of the Lord as we grow
in our union with Christ. Today, God
invites us to his holy mountain and to the city of the Living God.
The Letter to the
Hebrews is filled with the language of worship.
Our reading today could easily introduce every celebration of the Holy
Eucharist. Here we are gathered, just as
Moses and the Chosen People were gathered, to hear the word that the Lord has
spoken to his people. Whenever the
Sacred Scriptures are proclaimed in the Sacred Liturgy, God is speaking to his
people. Our worship on earth is joined
to the worship of heaven and we sing with the Angels in the Gloria and the
Holy, Holy, Holy. In the celebration of
the Liturgy, the ministry of the angels is carried out by the altar servers. The ministry of the Archangel, the one who
brings the good news, is carried out by the deacon. They prepare the Altar of Sacrifice, and they
assist the one, who though all unworthy, sacramentally represents Christ, who
is the High Priest and the spouse of the Church. They attend and assist as the sacrifice that
speaks more eloquently than the blood of Abel is made present and is
offered. And you, beloved brothers and
sisters in the Lord, as the baptized people of God, are the assembly of the
firstborn enrolled in heaven. That is
your baptismal dignity. The baptismal
mark on your souls enables you to participate in divine worship. The priestly mark on my soul, given by Christ
with a brother’s care and received through the laying on of hands, enables me
to lead divine worship. In the celebration
of the Eucharist, your royal priesthood of the baptized, through your union
with the ministerial priesthood of the ordained, joins in the single act of
worship of our God and Father. We join
with Christ the High Priest and we approach the holy mountain at the invitation
of God.
How then, dear brothers
and sisters, shall we respond to the invitation?
In our reading from the
book of the Sirach, we are advised to conduct ourselves with humility. We are invited to humble ourselves before the
Lord for the humble are pleasing in his sight.
Humility, however, is not about thinking less of ourselves. Humility is the virtue of thinking of
ourselves . . . less. With the virtue of humility, we think of the
other first. We follow the example of
the Lord Jesus, the Son of the Father and the host of the banquet, who washes
the feet of his disciples. The real gift
of humility is that the humble are open to receiving the gifts that God desires
to give them. The humble recognize their
need. The humble recognize their
unworthiness. And the humble respond in
gratitude. The proud never will.
In our reading from the
Gospel today, the Lord Jesus advises his followers not to seek the highest
place. He invites his disciples to
associate themselves with the humble.
Those who take the lower place can be invited to a higher one. Those who first take the highest place at the
banquet cannot receive it as the gift of the host. They will not hear the words: “My friend,
come higher.”
As we celebrate this
Eucharist, may we approach Mount Zion and the city of the
Living God with the humility of the shepherds who approached the manger. May we join with the angels and the saints in
the worship of our God and Father. And
from the lowly place that we have taken, may we listen for the voice of the
Lord Jesus who invites us, “My friend, come higher.” Amen.
Preached
at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
