Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings

St. Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish gentleman and an officer in the army. He was wounded in battle and recovered at a monastery and had a conversion experience. When haled, he dressed in his uniform but could not pull up his boots because his leg had been broken and the over the thigh boots could go over the swelling in his knee. So, St. Ignatius, in his pride, had them break his leg and reset it so the boot would fit. However, St. Ignatius learned about pride and humility in the second healing. In his writings, he spoke of going into battle with evil and how he always had to be aware of which pennant was raised during battle. Was it the pennant of pride or the pennant of humility?

We should all know by now that the Son of God took on our humanity, suffered and died for our sins, rose from the dead. Jesus gives us himself in the Eucharist and in His Body, the Body of Christ, which we receive initiation into through the sacrament of Baptism.

Sometimes, we can look at ourselves and allow our egos to get inflated. We all tend to be judgmental, and we compare our spirituality against the spiritually of others. We can even feel superior to those who are on the journey and don’t know it and we look for kinks in the armor of those who appear holier than we do. In those moments, the flag of pride raises its ugly head and sometimes we believe the lies.

So, what should a good Christian Catholic be thinking? We should think first that without grace we are no better than anyone else and we may even be worse. Secondly, we are still on the journey, and we have not accomplished anything yet. Thirdly, since we do not know the hearts of people, we should think of ourselves as poorer in grace and more in need of salvation than anyone else. Then we will be of service to everyone since we ourselves are on the bottom of the pecking order.

The battle between humility and pride is ongoing. How do we handle the conflict? I will rely on Kenny Rodgers and the words from his song, “The Gambler”. You have to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run. You never count your money when you’re sitting at the table, there will be time enough for counting when the game is done”.

May God continue to bless us with humility

Deacon Phil