In April 2008, there was an international news report about a scandalous incident in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which is one of Christianity’s holiest shrines because tradition says that this is where Jesus was buried and resurrected, is shared by the Armenians, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and other Orthodox churches. They each have a certain section in the Church that they maintain. In April of 2008, dozens of Greek and Armenian priests and worshippers were caught in a fight in the Church of Holy Sepulcher during the Feast of the Palm Sunday, and they attacked the police with palm branches when they tried to break up the fight. A fist-fight broke out after some Armenian priests kicked out a Greek priest from their midst and pushed him to the ground. The Armenians alleged that the Greek priest stayed too long in front of the tomb of Christ. How ironic, sad and
scandalous that one of the holiest sites of Christianity – one that could have united peoples of faith— became a source of conflict and division because people refused to see others having equal rights to that sacred space.
In the readings that we have today, both the First Reading and the Gospel, the virtue of humility takes a very prominent place. It is the unifying theme of the readings this Sunday. The esteem or importance in which our Christian faith puts on humility is not just something that is an add-on to our faith, but rather is
intrinsically and indispensably part of who we are as followers of Christ. When we speak of humility or being humble, we don’t mean that one has to regard oneself as low, despicable or beneath respect. But rather, to be oneself with a realistic understanding of who we are, what we can be with the grace of God, and so set out to scale the heights. It is also the liberation from rivalry, from that negative compulsion to measure myself against other people. Why did this person get promoted and not me? Why is this person experiencing a better life than myself? And why was he asked to do this important job and not me? Humility is the realization that I have to be thankful for what I have and also rejoice in the success of others. And that I see others around me not as threats but
people whom I can learn with and, at same time, whom I can share what I have so that they may also learn from me and grow as well. In our secular world, competition seems to be the rule of the game. It has its gains and advantages. For example, good competition among products is great for consumers. But in personal relationships, competition without mutual recognition and mutual need is destructive and divisive. St. Catherine of Siena wrote what God told her in a vision: “I could well have made human beings in such a way that they had everything, but I preferred to give different gifts to different people, so that they would all need each other.” In emphasizing the importance and vitality of this virtue of humility, we can find our model of humility par excellence in the very person of Jesus. His becoming as man – in assuming our humanity and everything that goes with
it except sin—and eventually dying on the cross without the necessity of doing so– he showed us what humility is at its best. That’s why every liturgy, every Mass, also manifests this humbling work of God– we find ourselves here as one and united in faith, seated in the same pews regardless of who we are – regardless of our background, regardless of our education and economic status. There is no special pew for those who give more money to the church, and there is no special pew reserved for those who are struggling to belong to the Church. God gave himself totally to all of us. He did not give only a part of himself to the sinners and the whole of himself to the righteous. If this is our image of who God is, then our natural response is to see others around us as truly worthy of our respect, our understanding and generosity, even though we may differ in culture and religious tradition.
Every parish community is like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. We might not have the Armenians, Greek Orthodox or the Coptic Orthodox guarding their own sites and fighting each other over space rights, but we also find ourselves in an environment that is diversely rich in religious practices and perspectives. Some us are more oriented towards a deeper study and defense of faith; others find fulfillment in the area of social justice; some have a deep appreciation of the beauty and solemnity of the Latin Mass; others prefer a greater enculturation of the liturgy; some like traditional music, while some enjoy contemporary music. What I am saying here is that we find ourselves in a parish environment where each one of us has a certain way we live out our citizenship in God’s kingdom. We operate and live our vocation according to a certain model. This diversity proves the richness and magnanimity of the kingdom of God, and it should excite us rather than feeling threatened by other perspectives that are different from ours. The division in the Church is not so much whether one is conservative or liberal, but rather the failure to recognize and respect one another and to think that there is only one single way to live out our citizenship or our Christian life. When we become so rigid and inflexible in our own position, then we shut or close ourselves to grow and mature in our understanding of our faith. To be tolerant of others does not mean to accept everything; it does not mean approval of what is wrong or to compromise our faith; but rather, openness to the possibility of enriching our faith experiences through the unique experiences of others around us. The best example of this is Jesus himself. He shared his ministry to the unknown person John complained about, yet he also reminded John of the consequences when a person leads others to sin. I can think of many examples where one leads others to sin: internet pornography; parents who use foul language in front of their children; prostitution; even bad doctrines taught in churches to exploit people; and many more.
Just like the Armenians, Orthodox and the Roman Catholics who find themselves under one roof in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher despite their religious differences, we also find ourselves here as one community in the midst of varying approaches, yet we all meet together in the central place of our faith: the death and resurrection of Christ as manifested in the Eucharist. Unless we appreciate and rejoice in our differences and learn from one other, then we remain in the words of St. Paul “strangers of the kingdom.”
– Fr. Cary