Though the Gospel and first reading from the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time specifically address how badly the priesthood from the Old and New Testaments treated the chosen people of God, it also intentionally mentions how all of us are called to be models of the faith in which we believe. This is especially true of us baptized into the Catholic faith as priest, prophet and king who promise to follow the ways of Christ.
Living a
Godly life seems to be difficult for many people when they come to realize that
doing such may call for suffering, or not receiving credit in the eyes of
others. Humility is a hard concept to
practice when you believe you know better, have helped others to understand,
but don’t receive recognition as the one who imparts useable knowledge so
others will benefit from your wisdom.
The error one does not realize is that wisdom comes from God who, out of love for His creation, imparts this gift for those who accept it to be of service to others, not as their master.
As Jesus said in St. Matthew’s Gospel today, “Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
St. Charles Borromeo, bishop, whose feast day was celebrated on November 4, said in a homily at a bishop’s synod, “If teaching and preaching is your job, then study diligently and apply yourself to whatever is necessary for doing the job well.” “…nothing is more necessary then meditation. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day.”
What I believe works for most of us is to share how God works in our life in both good and difficult times. If we are honest about what we did based on our story, we don’t need to apologize or ask forgiveness. We are practicing what we preach and modeling what we learned from God.
Take this week to look at how we practice what we preach, especially when we talk about God in our lives.
Do we take the attitude that we know what our theological teachings are about and those to whom we talk with do not? Or do we listen to what we are being told and respond in a way that allows for an open conversation in which both of us can learn how God enlightens us to be better Christians in good and difficult times?
How to be present to one another can make a whole lot of difference towards practicing humility as Jesus did when He walked the earth.
Reading 1: Malachi 1: 14b – 2: 2b, 8-10
Reading 2: First Thessalonians 2: 7b-9, 13
Gospel: Matthew 23: 1-12
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