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This Fr. Gerry Creedon homily was delivered at St. Charles on September 21, 2003
THE LAST LINE of the first reading for today's liturgy reads. "God will take care of him" (Wis 20).
It brings to mind the storm story. There was a stubborn and religious old man who lived alone on Cape Hattaras. He was directly in line for the eye of Hurricane Isabel. His neighbor offered him a ride out of town, he answered, "God will take care of me" and refused to go. The wind was lifting off the roof, when a police officer suggested evacuation. He was refused because "God will take care of me". Finally the waters were coming up around his house when the fire and rescue offered their services, only to be rebuffed, "God will take care of me". The house and the old man were carried off by Isabel. The old man at the pearly gates questioned God: "I always trusted you to take care of me, why did you abandon me?" The Lord answered: "I did not abandon you. I sent my messengers to you three times offering help and you would not listen." Let us attend to the many ways God speaks.
The Gospel presents the ambitions of the apostles, "They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest". In contemporary terms, they wanted to know who would be cardinal of New York?
America loves a winner. Who is the number one woman golfer? Annika. Who knows number two? Seri Pak is not a household name. She does not do much advertising, even though she finished the season playing better. We like to boast of having the number one military force in the world. Whatever happened to the idea of a humble foreign policy? Bumper stickers proclaim, "My son is a saint" or "My daughter is an honor student". We like straight A students.
Sometimes it seems that we are all on a campaign of self-promotion. I recently served on a search committee. Some of the candidates equaled Jesus Christ.
This is not just an American temptation. My father had 14 children, as did my mother. My father used to refer to one of the ten sons as his favorite son, not me! You can imagine the burden it laid on the favored one!
On the other hand I do not believe in false modesty. We do not need to downplay our talents, or indulge in self-loathing. We are called to develop our skills. Competition has its place; Halliburton should not get all the contracts.
However we need to look to the gospel for the strange ironic meaning of the words. "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all". We need to find a balance. We need to be as comfortable with our limitations as we are with our gifts. We need humility.
Jesus placed a child in their midst. Ultimately our ambition, our status, our dignity is given to us when we recognize ourselves as God's children. Is that not enough?