Audio
26th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR, NOLA
It
seems that disobedience comes naturally to us. Our first impulse is
to say NO to God and hope we can get away with saying NO. We can. For
a little while at least. In the end though – disobedience comes
around to bite us in the. . .the rear. If we're smart, we'll take
that bite, jump in surprise, and mend our ways, returning to the
straight and narrow that leads to eternal life. Like the first son in
Jesus' parable, we might say NO at first but then realize how dumb
that is and repent. Saying NO and repenting later is certainly better
than the path taken by the second son – saying YES to God and then
doing nothing. This is both a lie and an act of disobedience. The
bite that comes after this little charade will hurt. . . forever.
So, how do we overcome the vicious habit of saying NO to God? How do
we get into the habit of obedience, the habit of listening for God's
will and following Him? Paul helps us out here: “Do nothing out of
selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more
important than yourselves. . .Have in you the same attitude that is
also in Christ Jesus.” Disobedience grows out of pride; pride is
conquered by humility; and humility is nurtured by repentance.
Disobedience
grows out of pride. Fundamentally, pride is the vicious habit of
thinking and acting as if I can become god w/o God; that is, that I
can achieve perfection w/o any help from God. If I can achieve my end
– perfection in heaven – w/o any help from God, then there is no
reason for me to be obedient to God's will. This is the lie that the
Serpent told Eve in the Garden – “You can be like God.” How? By
disobeying Him. This tendency to ignore God and outright defy His
will is part and parcel of our fallen human nature. How much time and
energy do we waste trying to find the perfection we long for and at
the same time ignore the only Perfect Way available to us? DIY
religion is quite the trend these days. Pick and choose, buffet-style
from a wide diversity of options and blend them all together into a
comfortable, happy little spirituality that soothes the seared
conscience and provides an incredibly shallow sense of spiritual
depth. Or we could substitute political activism for religion and
feed self-righteousness with outrage, believing that our anger will
somehow propel us into a secular saintliness. If we choose anyone or
anything but Christ, we are choosing Self. We are choosing pride and
willful ignorance. And this path leads to destruction. Every single
time.
Fortunately, pride is conquered by humility. If choosing the Self
above all others – including God – leads to destruction, then
choosing Others over Self perfects humility. Humility is nothing more
than acknowledging the truth that I am totally dependent on God for
everything I have and everything I am. Nothing I have, nothing I am
is truly mine. It all belongs to God. Whatever gifts I have belong to
God. My education, my experiences, my talents, my memories, my
priesthood, my religious life – all belong to God. My family,
friends, colleagues; those who call themselves my enemies – all of
them belong to God. The more deeply I acknowledge and live out this
truth, the more deeply am I able surrender to God's will and use all
that He has given me to preach and teach His Good News. And the more
deeply I surrender, the closer I get to being perfected in His
Christ. IOW, the less I struggle to take control of my own
perfection, the freer I am to receive the perfection He freely gives.
Pride clings to Self. Pride stubbornly controls and seeks control.
Pride urges me to proclaim myself the god of my life. Pride makes ME
into an idol for me.
How do we depose the idol of Self and turn toward Others? Humility is
nurtured by repentance. The first son says NO and then repents.
Saying NO to God is certainly a sin, but repenting and turning to
obedience is salvation. We are free to say to God NO. But saying NO
to God traps us in slavery to sin. Once we say NO, it gets harder and
harder to say anything else. Over time, we become fools, unable to
distinguish Good from Evil. We can hold pride in check and put off
becoming fools by naming our sins, repenting of them, and receiving
God's always, already offered forgiveness. This is simply a process
of saying to God, “I belong to You, Lord. Everything I have and
everything I am is Yours! What would You have me do with what is
Yours?” Think of repentance as the daily, hourly intentional return
to the Truth of who you really are in Christ. When some other god
worms its way onto the throne of our heart, repentance is only tool
you need to accomplish a coup. Turn to Others and give freely from
all that the Father has freely given to you. Turn to God and freely
give back to Him everything you have and everything you are. Pull
down the idol of Self. Be free to become Christ!
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