Fr. Jim Lowe 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time 9/27/20

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

At the center of all the scriptures we hear proclaimed today, there is a strong theme of humility. In the first reading from the prophet Ezekiel, we hear about God’s people complaining that God’s ways are not fair. They became prideful and failed to rec- ognize that it is their own sinful patterns of behavior that are not fair, not God’s just punishment. If I freely choose to rebel against God by committing serious sins against Him and others, I bring the consequences of my sins upon myself. Sin is an of- fense against God and against those whom I sin against. God does not want me to sin, He wants me to turn to Him with a humble and contrite heart open to His mercy. He wants to give me the grace to turn away from sin and turn to Him and His plan for my life. “If he turns from the wickedness he has commit- ted, he does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.” (Ezekiel 18:28)

The psalmist continues to communicate this message of hu- mility. “Good and upright is the Lord; thus He shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice, and teaches the humble His way.” (Psalm 25:8-9) Humbling ourselves before the Lord is the way to holiness. When we come before the Lord in humility, he reveals our patterns of sinful behavior to us and encourages us to confess them to Him with a humble and contrite heart. Eve- ry time we approach the Lord in humility, He fills us with His grace and leads us to follow Him along His path of righteousness.

St. Paul drives this message of humility home in his letter to the Philippians. “Christ Jesus, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Ra- ther, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:5-8) Why would Jesus, who is God, choose to become one of us and allow himself to experience the most hu- miliating form of death, which is crucifixion? The answer is clear...so that he could be greatly exalted by God the Father in His resurrection from the dead. “God greatly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, ever knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:9-11)

Jesus is the perfect model of humility. Although He is God, he freely chose to become one of us and to die a brutal death on the cross out of love for us. He emptied Himself and took upon him- self our sins so that we could be forgiven of our sins and share eternal life with Him in heaven. This is why we are called to hum- bly approach Jesus. The consequence of serious sin is spiritual death. We separate ourselves from God for all of eternity when we commit mortal sin and do not confess it to the Lord in the Sac- rament of Reconciliation. Jesus reconciles us to God the Father and one another through His cross, death, and resurrection.

Let us humbly give thanks to Jesus for calling us out of a place of sin and death to a share in the fulness of His life! Let us hum- bly ask Him to grant us the grace to always turn to Him with hum- ble and contrite hearts and open ourselves up to His love and mercy. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray.

Amen
Your brother in Christ Fr. Jim Lowe, CC