Humiliation

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Ps 119 (118):137, 124 You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.

Collect O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 8:1-7.11-13; Psalm 138; Luke 6:27-38

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners', expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:27-38)

Humiliation Towards the end of the 1850s, Newman finished his period as first Rector of the Catholic University in Dublin. It had been a period of severe frustration and some injustice. Especially hurtful was the injustice coming from Bishops and collaborators. For instance, in a letter to an Oratorian colleague (Father John Flanagan) he writes, “A great deal has happened since you went. Father Faber tells people openly that Cardinal Wiseman said to him of me ‘He has shelved himself.’ Faber is so open (about it)...” (January 5, 1859). Soon after, he wrote to a convert and in the course of the letter, observed that “I wish to bear my cross, which (strange to say) has been almost lifelong, without talking of it ... and I am sure a lighter cross could not be, nor would I change it, nor be without it... in my heart and judgment I wish to have my reward, whatever it is, hereafter not here — Yet it is a burden to my feelings, which others relieve by such kind words as yours are, to reflect that I busy myself from morning to night, with so little thanks from any one. Now for thirteen years, I have been in many true senses a servant; ... with no object or will of my own; yet never was a time, when apparently I am more likely than now to be visited with those suspicions and jealousies which in one shape or other have been my portion through life. Well I am used to it, and it does not matter to me...” (Epiphany, 1859). Newman, outstanding Christian mind of the nineteenth century, had long and hidden experience of being humiliated, slighted, maligned. Moreover, he had the intellectual sagacity to be fully aware of what was said of him. But he bore it in the spirit of Christ and his sufferings led him to sanctity. Beatified by Pope Benedict in September 2010, he is yet another example of the power of suffering to lead to holiness — suffering borne in union with Jesus Christ. Our Lord time and again told his disciples that the Messiah had to suffer in order to enter his glory. When Simon Peter tried to dissuade him from the path of the Cross, our Lord severely reprimanded him, calling him Satan. The plan of God is that glory is attained by obedient suffering, and especially humiliation.

Humiliation causes real suffering. If a person speaks disrespectfully, or harshly, or in a way that misrepresents — i.e., if one is humiliated — this causes an injury. In previous eras it often led to a duel, with one or other of the parties being killed. The injured party could not live with the insult, and either he or the offending party was destroyed by sword or bullet. It is well-known that in sixteenth-century Spain (Spain being the superpower of Europe), personal honour was the supreme value, and slights to that honour were of grave import. There are still cultures in which a daughter who is regarded as wayward is put to death by the family — it is an ‘honour-killing,’ as if this perceived slight to their honour in the eyes of others justified the crime. Human respect is a core value of the human being, and when it is wounded, the spirit of man revolts. But Christ has come with an altogether opposite message. He points to himself as meek and humble of heart in bearing slights and opprobrium. From all eternity he possessed the glory of God, and he became one of us to bear the loss of this glory, even to death on a cross. He died ingloriously, and glory was its fruit. That the Cross is to be accepted and embraced is the most difficult of the teachings of Christ. If what is borne is not difficult, then it is not truly the Cross that is being borne. In our Gospel today (Luke 6:27-38) our Lord speaks of those who act towards us as would enemies. We are to love them and pray for them. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” The problem is made more acute when it is good people who do the harm, and, from their perspective, do it for right and good motives. “Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that.”

When we are injured by others in word or in deed, let us immediately think of Christ and his teaching. He was injured as no-one else was, and he forgave. That is our model. Let us strive to imitate him, asking for the grace of God to do so. We have a specimen of his teaching in our Gospel today. Let us pray for the grace to live according to it, because it can only be done with the assistance of grace. With the aid of this grace, humiliation, insult and injury will lead to glory. What saint attained sanctity without suffering and humiliation? Let that be our consolation, then.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (1 Corinthians 8:1-7.11-13)

The Christian Conscience In his first letter to the Corinthians (ch.8:1-7.11-13) St Paul offers some directions on something that is often appealed to: the authority of one's conscience. In effect St Paul says that the conscience of the "enlightened" person can be very unenlightened. In the case that he refers to here, it is of a person who has a correct understanding of what is objectively permitted (in this case, the eating of food that has been sacrificed to idols). But he takes no regard of the good of another who lacks this understanding and who observes his action. To take no regard of the good of the other means that one's conscience is unenlightened. Acting accordingly will result in injury to that other person's "weak conscience", and it will be "Christ against whom you sinned." The weaker person's conscience is unenlightened too, but St Paul is not concerned with him in this passage.

During the whole of our life we ought be imbued with the mind and charity of Christ. We must be ever concerned with the sanctification and salvation of our brothers, even if it means curtailing our liberty to do what our conscience tells is perfectly permissible. Let us work daily to grow in the love and mind of Christ in everything.

(E.J.Tyler)

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