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Browsing Father Michael Deering's Sunday Homilies

Be Righteous by Admitting your Sinfulness!

Homily originally presented on Sunday, October 23, 2016

Regarding the way we go to Confession ... I’m going to give you two ways ... that some people begin ... and see if you can detect what might be missing. “Hello Father, I’ve come to confession to get this off my chest ... I did so and so ...

Anything missing?

Here’s another way some people begin: “Hello Father, my last Confession was 6 months ago and in that time I’ve ...

Anything missing there?

What words were you taught to say to begin your Confession? What’s the first thing you should say to the Priest in Confession? “Bless me Father for I have sinned!” Yes, before you tell me your sins ... and before you tell me how long it’s been since your last confession ... you’re supposed to say the words ...“Bless me Father for I have sinned!” Why? Well, it’s not just some polite greeting ... no, that’s a very meaningful part of the Sacrament. It’s with those words that you convict yourself of who you are ... a sinner! I know why you’re there ... and you know why you’re there. But there’s great power in you admitting why you’re there with your own words. There’s great power in you accusing yourself ... of being a sinner ... “Bless me Father for I have sinned!” So important is this ... to the process of receiving forgiveness and renewal ... that if I don’t hear you say it, I will stop you and have you begin again!

Can you say the words, “I’m a sinner.”

Those are redemptive words; those are the words that begin the new beginning! Many people today have convinced themselves that they’re doing just fine ... and deceive themselves as to the real state of their souls ... the real state of their relationship with God ... and with others. The healing of any sickness begins with the admission that there’s a problem. It’s only then that we undertake treatment to overcome the problem.

For example, alcoholism is a sickness ... one that creates many problems. People who are alcoholics often suffer the loss of their health, their spouse, their children, their jobs, their money and their self esteem! How do they overcome their problem and become well? When they finally admit that they have a problem ... then help is on the way. When Alcoholics attend their Alcoholic Anonymous meetings ... they always introduce themselves admitting to their problem, They say, “Hi My name is Mike ... and I’m an alcoholic.” or “Hi, my name is Sue ... and I’m and alcoholic.” You see, with their “admission of weakness” ... they’ve opened the door to reclaiming their sobriety ... and retaining their sobriety!

It’s the same thing with “the sickness of sin”. With our “admission of weakness” ... we open the door to reclaiming our divine likeness ... and retaining our divine likeness! When we admit to having the sickness of sin ... we enable Jesus, the Doctor of the Soul, to make us well. How often do our souls get sick? How often do we sin? Well, St. Augustine used to say, “Even the greatest of men sin 7 times a day.” Wow! No matter how good you may think you are ... you’re a sinner. So why not just admit it? Why kid yourself by thinking, “ I haven’t done anything wrong!” And boasting to others ... “Hey, I’m a good person!” Well, that’s not totally true.

Jesus says God alone is all good. Yes, God is good ... and we know that He wants us to be with Him ... so we know that He wants us to be good too! In other words, God wants us to be righteous ... where righteousness is behaving rightly ... imitating God’s goodness. Righteousness is very pleasing to God ... but there’s a form of righteousness that is not pleasing to God ... and that form of righteousness is ... Self-Righteousness.

Self-Righteousness is when someone is self-assured of their goodness ... confident that they’re living ... purely and perfectly ... often letting others know about it ... usually to an irritating degree. Jesus clarifies the distinction between righteousness & self-righteousness ... in our Gospel today ... by describing how a Pharisee and a Tax Collector each pray in the Temple. Now you know ... since Jesus often criticized the Pharisees, when we hear his Parable today, it’s easy to want to jump to the conclusion that: the Pharisee was bad ... and the Tax Collector was good. But that’s not completely true. You see, the Pharisee in the parable today was righteous about many things. He said, Im not greedy, dishonest, adulterous.” That’s good; he was being righteous! He said, “I fast twice a week.” That’s very good; he was acting righteous there too! He said, “I pay tithes on my whole income.” Here again, he was being righteous! This Pharisee was righteous! He did many things that were pleasing to God!

But Jesus points out ... that even though he did ... those many good things ... there was something else that he was doing ... that tainted his many good deeds. And that’s that ... the Pharisee was convinced of his own goodness! He says, “Oh God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity.” In saying this, the Pharisee was being ... self-righteous! Who is it that determines our righteousness? If it’s ourselves ... then we are actually bestowing a crown of glory upon our head. What crown? Our own crown! But that’s not the crown that brings us eternal happiness. That’s not the crown that brings us eternal glory. Only one crown does that ... the crown bestowed by God.

St. Paul refers to this Crown in our Second Reading today, saying, “From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day.” Who awards the Crown of righteousness? The Just Judge ... who is Jesus! When do we get that crown? On that day ... the day we meet the Just Judge, Jesus. That’s the Crown Paul was seeking with all his heart. How did he seek it? Paul spent the last 25 years of his life spreading the Good News ... that Salvation was to be found through belief in Jesus Christ. So relentless was he in doing this good work that today he writes, “I (feel) poured out like a libation.”

Wow!

It’s easy to see that compared to others of his time, Paul was being very righteous; he was living in the goodness of God ... and it would have been very easy for him ... to be like the other Pharisees and award himself ... his own crown of glory. But Paul understood that a self-made crown meant nothing, whereas the crown awarded by God means everything ... it means Eternal Life! Which crown are you going after? The crown you bestow ... or the crown God bestows? Whenever we crown ourselves with our own crown ...
and tout
our own righteousness ... we’re setting ourselves up for a fall. Jesus warns us of this saying, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled.” The antidote for this is humility ...
having
the humility to take a real honest look inside ourselves, and admit to the sins we find in our heart.

That’s why regular Confession is so important. It forces us to look within ourselves to see the things that we’re not proud of, the hurts & the lacks, our faults & our failings, our sins & our withholding of love. And then we can admit them ... express our sorrow for them ... be absolved of them ... and be graced with God’s strength to overcome them in the future!

What was missing from the Pharisee’s prayer ... was humility. This was a regular problem for the Pharisees ... which is why Luke says: “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” And, this continues to be a problem for many people to this day! Are you that way? Do you consider yourself ... superior to others? Do you look down on others who don’t pray, or don’t go to Church, or don’t go to the same Church, or don’t fast, or don’t tithe, or don’t live like you do? Do you compare yourself to others and place yourself on a pedestal for your perceived good performance? If so, then you’re being Self-Righteous!

If so, then listen again to Jesus’ warning: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled.” How do you avoid being humbled by God and others? Easy, you humble yourself before God and others! Humility is admitting ... that no matter how great your accomplishments... you are always in need of God! And no matter how hard you strive to be good ... you sometimes fall short & sin. Humility moves us to go to Confession, regularly and often ... to seek forgiveness for our sins against God and neighbor. If we think we’re without sin ... we’re deluding ourselves.
We are sinners, and we need to admit it ... just as the Tax Collector did in Jesus’ parable ... when he prayed, “Oh God be merciful to me a sinner.” Let’s realize and always admit: “Bless me Father for I have sinned.” If we persist in self-righteousness, we will only wear a temporary crown. But if we live with humility and righteousness, we’ll one day wear an eternal crown. Temporary crown or Eternal crown ... the choice is ours.

Let’s let the words of Jesus guide us, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

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