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The Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Our salvation consists in being conformed to the image of the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ. Baptism is the beginning of this incredible journey of transformation wherein we put off the old self and grow as sons and daughters of God. This is the purpose of our lives.

The very nature of God – and likewise, our sonship – is selfless, life-giving love. That’s who the Trinity is. The Father eternally pours his life, his love out as a gift to the Son. The Son eternally receives this gift entirely and then gives it right back to the Father. This gift of love is not an impersonal “something,” but someone: the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. As an eternal communion of love, our Triune God is love (See 1 John 4:8, 16).

The vice of pride is one hundred percent completely at odds with who God is and by extension, who we are called to become. God tells us, time and time again, through his sacred Word, to be humble. Such is the case with the first reading: “My child, conduct your affairs with humility… Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God” (Sir 3:17-18). Yet God does not merely tell us to exercise humility; he actually gives us an example as our model in the person, life, and work of Jesus.

The eternal, selfless, life-giving love of God manifested itself in Jesus. Jesus couldn’t stop doing in time what he had been doing for all of eternity. In Jesus, we see the very eternal nature of God lived out in the flesh. Like a hand that shows its shape in a glove, so the eternal and invisible God made known his intimate self as he loved us in the self-abasing humility of the Cross.

To the first reading taken from the Book of Sirach, the Liturgy pairs Luke 14 wherein Jesus exhorts both the guests and the host (a prominent Pharisee) to humility.

Jesus says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). That’s a line we all should write on a piece of paper and tape to our bathroom mirrors.

We are not alone in our struggle against pride. There are countless angels and saints present at every Mass who urge us on and who pray for us. Paired with Luke 14 and Sirach 3, the second reading is taken from Hebrews 12, which tells of the true nature of Christian liturgical worship. Probably written as a first-century homily, the homilist says to his congregants, “you have approached… the heavenly Jerusalem and countless angels… and the spirits of the just made perfect.” He doesn’t say, “You will one day approach,” but rather, “You have approached.” There is always more than meets the eye when we’re at Mass. At Mass, we participate in the worship of the angels and saints.