8/31/25 Freedom and Joy

2:02 Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. May you have a seat. So not too long ago, I came across this post online. It's just like a normal, it was a normal like birthday post from a dad to their son. And it's the kind of thing you'll see on Instagram, you know, a bunch of pictures of the kid and so the post or like on Facebook, whatever. And it was very normal. Again, as I say, you see it all the time. And it was very sweet. The dad is just posting saying like, you know, about his child, like, hey, you're the best, you know, the post was, you're the best kid. Like you're the best brother to your siblings, you know, that the best son I could ever dream of. Like, you're just the best kid ever. I remember seeing that and thinking, well, actually, that's super sweet. Like, that's very nice. It's a great thing for a dad to say. And then, you know, there's something in you sometimes, and I have this something in me sometimes that at the same time I was reading that and thinking, oh, what a nice thing for a dad to say. I was like, well, that's not true.

2:56 Because it's not, right? I mean, again, it's a super nice thing to say, really sweet thing to say. But like, really? like he's the best kid ever. Out of all the kids who've ever existed, this is the, your son is the best brother to his, I was just thinking like, I don't know, I don't know. And it goes both ways, of course. I mean, you see dads walking around with a t-shirt that says world's best dad. And I think, okay, really, when was the competition? Like who was invited? Well, actually you realize that that t-shirt was probably given to that dad by who? By his own kids. And of those kids, how many other options did they have to be able to say you're the world's best dad. One, I mean, so again, hey, hopefully you can tell I'm joking. I'm just kidding. And I'll be, I'm not saying don't do this. I'm just saying what happens when someone says, hey, you're the best ever. Or someone says you're the greatest and you know that you aren't.

3:53 What happens when someone's praising you and you know the truth? I think of myself. years ago, I was given a, one of the classic world's best boss mugs, you know, coffee mugs, kind of like Michael Scott that he bought from himself at Spencer's gifts. I was given that by someone. I don't even remember who I wrote. Don't remember who it was because I never use it. Like I, I don't even use it in private because, because the reality is I know the truth. I see it and I'm like, no, it's not true. Not even close to true. And everyone who works with me know, it's like, no, not even the best in the room. Like it's that, it's that I, it's that bad, But it's just, that's the start. I have to know the truth. And that's, and also, it's not a sad thing. To know the truth is not a sad thing. I would say this, to know the truth, to acknowledge the truth and to live the truth is not sad. It is the first step towards freedom. It's the first real step towards joy because that step is humility. And that's all, right?

4:45 We have the first reading today and the gospel, but the first reading from Sirach, he says this. He says, conduct your affairs with humility and humble yourself the more, the greater you are. You know, this is helpful for us to understand this, that Sirach is not saying, hey, when you're being humble, you're pretending. See, I think sometimes we think that humility is pretending. So C.S. Lewis wrote about this once at one point, and he said this, he said, humility is not a pretty woman trying to believe she's ugly or a clever man trying to believe that he's a fool. Humility is being honest about what you are and also not thinking about yourself all the time. So humility isn't pretending. And it's also, humility is not negative. In fact, I would say this. I would say there is a freedom in humility and there is a joy in humility because what? Here, our students, we're starting, this is the beginning of our semester.

5:38 And so many of our students show up and they can show up because they performed in the past. Like their whole life has been about performance. And so it's like, okay, I performed in the past and now I'm here to, I guess, continue performing. where I had to try to manage people's impression on me. So now I'm going to keep trying to manage people's impression on me. And so many students, so many people just experience the burden, that pressure of trying to keep up the illusion. I mean, just think about this. Consider the amount of energy we put into our performance, how much energy we put into trying to appear to be perfect, how much energy we put into kind of what you might call like impression management, that I can't let them see this about me, I can't let them know this about me, but humility is acknowledging and walking and living the truth, whatever that truth is. I mean, because the reality is you could be pretty great at something and it might not mean a lot. So I have a friend named Annie Hickman. Annie Hickman lives down in Texas. And at one point he's a, he's a Catholic speaker, just incredible man. Um, but any was telling the story about, uh, in Texas, they have these massive, like barbecue conventions where they have some, I guess, barbecue influencers where, and people will come from all over the place, not only to have the barbecue, but to meet the barbecue pit masters. In fact, there's this one place it's called the, uh, the Texan Texas open fire meetup in meat is M E A T very clever.

7:06 but they have a thing where it's meet the master pit master and people thousands of people will line up to meet someone who makes barbecue and it's their dream of their life to meet the barbecue master and we've never heard of them they're good at it but like wait but who knows it i don't know if you know a man his name uh stephen bunting i saw stephen bunting a year or two ago, maybe, I think it was only a year ago, 2024. He throws darts, plays darts. He's a very, very good dartist, whatever that is. And I'd never heard of him before, but he was at the World's Match Play Darts Competition in Dublin. And they had him in this video of his walkout song. And his walkout song was the song Titanium. And he's just an ordinary looking guy, just throws the darts probably in his basement or in a pub on a regular basis.

8:02 but is very, very good at it. And the crowd was going absolutely crazy. They wanted his autograph. They wanted to give him a high five. They were cheering for him. He got on stage and he, I mean, it was crazy the amount of people who were shouting the song at him because they wanted him to win. And you probably have never heard of Stephen Bunting. And again, it gets great. Probably good pit masters. Awesome. Stephen Bunting, great. For them, if they want to have freedom, they need to have the freedom of humility. What's the freedom of humility? The freedom of humility is this. Okay, I'm good at this, living the truth, right? I'm good at this, and that's what it means. I'm good at barbecue, and that's what it means. I'm good at darts, and that's what it means. I'm good at this thing. This is what humility is. The freedom of humility is I'm good at this, and that's all it means. I have a little, my older sister, her name's Beth. I shouldn't have said that.

8:55 My older sister, her name's Beth. We'll just call her Beth. And for basically, as long as she's been an adult, Beth has gone on tour with different people and done wardrobe. And so she first had an internship with Prince down in the Twin Cities. And it was interesting. Later on, she worked for Ricky Martin, if you remember who Ricky Martin is, leaving La Vida Loca. And it was one of those situations where Prince didn't like her for the same reason that Ricky Martin loved her. Apparently, Prince liked to be kind of fond all over and just like that sense of like, you're the best thing ever. You're amazing. You're incredible. And my sister, Beth, is kind of unimpressed by celebrity, right? She's just kind of like, okay, you know, you're great. I'll do your wardrobe and I'll do my best job, but I'm also not going to fonder for you. Ricky Martin loved that because he'd been in Minuto since he was like 12, 13 years old. So people his whole life have been just making a big deal out of him. And at one point he turned to my sister and he said, you know, Beth, the thing I love about you is that you just treat me normally. You just treat me like I'm nothing special. And my sister looked back at him and said, well, you aren't. You aren't special. You are normal. She's like, it's not like you're curing cancer. You sing and you dance.

10:03 And he was like, yeah, like that. You know, that sense of, because that's it, right? Again, humility is not pretending. It's not pretending I'm not good at barbecue. It's not pretending I'm not good at darts. It's not pretending I'm not good at singing or dancing. It's not pretending like I'm not good at sports or math. But it's also not thinking that because I'm good at barbecue or darts or sports or math, that I'm more than that. That's all it means. If I'm good at sports or darts or whatever it is, all it means is that I'm good at sports or darts. If I'm not good at them, all it means is I'm not good at them. You know, there's actually a woman, her name is Carol S. Dweck. She works at Columbia. She wrote a book called Mindset. And I love this truth. Her thing is like, even if you're not good at something, to not say like, oh, I'm bad at math, that's it, full stop. That's what she calls a fixed mindset.

10:57 But to say, yeah, I currently struggle with math or I currently struggle with darts, I currently struggle with barbecue, I currently struggle with sourdough. And a lot of you do that. But if I work at it, I can get better. See, I love that because that shows that we know the truth. If I'm good at this, that's all it means. If I'm bad at this, that's all it means. But it also can mean that I could get better. Why? Because humility is nothing other than acknowledging and living the truth about ourselves. And again, how often we're just weighed down by the fear and the anxiety of losing what we believe we deserve. Like if I'm good at this, then I deserve something else. Remember, humility is not beating yourself up. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. Humility is simply being honest and saying, okay, these are my strengths. And these are my weaknesses.

11:49 That's just what's true about me. This is what is about me that's lovely. And these are the things about me that are not lovely. Humility acknowledges, yeah, there's some great things, but also humility has to acknowledge the truth. And this is one of these deep truths about every one of us is, I am not yet who I should be. that's humility. I'm not yet who I should be.

12:15 Another piece of, another big, big concept of humility is, above all, like I'm not the center of the universe. But there's a massive freedom in that humility. And look at the gospel today. Here's Jesus. And he says the whole thing about when you go to a banquet, don't take the position of honor. Don't take that number one spot, but go to the lowest spot. Now, we have to keep this in mind. Jesus is not, remember, humility is not pretending. Jesus is not saying, hey, pretend and go to the lowest spot because then you'll manipulate your host into bringing you up higher. He's not saying pretend because if you wanna know who Jesus had some of the harshest words for in the gospel, all of the gospels, it was hypocrites. And hypocrite just simply means actor or pretender. So Jesus is not saying, hey, pretend that you belong to the lowest. What he's telling us is this. live the truth and you know you only know one person's heart you know you we only know our own lives we know we we only know our own story and the truth is here's me walking into a room here's you walking into a room is that based on what i know about me i don't know anything about i don't know the secret lives of anyone else but based on what i know about me i deserve the lowest spot. That is the only truth I can think of. Based on what I know about me, when I walk into a room, I don't know anyone else's heart here. I don't know on the surface their lives or this and that.

13:41 It doesn't matter. But based on what I know about me, I deserve the lowest spot. And so freedom is this. Freedom is taking the lowest spot, not because I'm pretending, but because I am so glad to be here that I'm grateful even for the lowest spot. Like to be able to actually have that freedom of humility. It says like, oh my gosh, like I'm glad I made the cut. Like I'm glad I'm even at the feast. I'm glad I'm even at the table. Like me, someone like me is here. That's joy. That's also the joy of humility because that's what humility also brings. Humility doesn't just bring freedom. Humility brings joy. You know, the humble person is the one who laughs easily. A humble person laughs easily. Of course, at things that are funny, maybe more than anything, the humble person can easily laugh at themselves.

14:29 The humble person can easily laugh at themselves. I have a couple nephews. One just graduated college, and his younger brother just went off to college. And Max, the older brother, was talking about his younger brother, Alex. And we were working at this camp together. And Max, as the older, was the emcee of the camp and did a great job. And his younger brother, Alex, was a junior counselor. And we're just talking about Alex as he's going off to college. He's getting down with high school, going off to college. And Max just kind of stepped back. And at one point he said, you know, I've always admired about Alex. He's always been able to laugh at himself. Even when he was a little kid, he said, we have videos of him and we're making fun of him. Like we're teasing him and he just laughs. We're making fun of like, he's interested in dinosaurs. And he's like, yeah, isn't that goofy? He's interested in the science. Like, isn't that goofy engineer at all his Legos? And he just, we can make fun of him and he just can such, he can so easily laugh at himself. And Max has said, that's something I've always admired about him.

15:21 That, you guys, what that is, that's so powerful. Why? Because what it reveals is that for Alex, at least in this context, he's not threatened. You can laugh at yourself when you're not threatened. He's not defensive. He's gonna laugh at yourself when you're not defensive. He's not pretending. And he's not afraid of losing something, right? Because he doesn't have that need to perform or the need to be perfect or the need to have impression management going on. That's, because that is the joy of humility, to acknowledge and to live the truth about ourselves. Even the truth that in my heart, there is weakness. And in my heart, there's unlovely things. In my heart, there are sins.

16:08 Here's something the humble person can do. The humble person can actually look at their weakness. They can look at their unloveliness. They can look at their sins and they can look at God and chuckle. They can look at the worst parts of their lives and then look at God and be like, oh my gosh, God, I'm glad you know me. Like they'll look at themselves and say, oh Lord, what a mess I am. I need you so badly. No, keep this in mind. That's not making light of sin. That's not making light of evil. But it's laughing at your weakness. That sense of, wow, Jesus, this is how much I need you. Now, if you find it difficult to imagine that, if you find it difficult to picture it, how can you possibly laugh at your weakness? How could you even laugh at how desperately you are needing Jesus? Look at St. Paul, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. What does St. Paul say in 2 Corinthians chapter 12?

17:00 What he says is he's talking all about his weakness, the depth of his brokenness. And he says that Jesus speaks to him and says, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses in order that the power of Christ may dwell within me. Therefore, I rejoice in my weakness. If you can't laugh at your weakness, you cannot boast of it. If you can't laugh at your weakness, you can't rejoice in it. If you can't laugh at your weakness, you can't be humble. You know, there is one being who cannot laugh at themselves. And that's Satan.

17:38 Satan can't laugh at himself. Imagine what a prison a person is in who can't laugh at themselves. G.K. Chesterton once said, he said, the reason why, he's joking, but he said, the reason why angels can fly is because they take themselves so lightly. Now, keep in this mind. He says angels take themselves lightly, not evil or suffering or good or God, but they take themselves lightly. And that's what, if we're going to be saints, that's what we have to do too. Take ourselves lightly and to be able to laugh at ourselves even when we're not the best kid ever. Even when we're not the best brother ever, best sister ever. Even when we're not the best son or daughter ever. This is the last thing. You know, my dad would always say something when I was growing up. He would never say, you're the best kid ever.

18:32 He'd never say you're the best son. Because two other brothers, I'm like, wow, I won. That would be unfair. My dad would often say this. he would often say, you know, you're a pretty good kid when you're sleeping. And I always just, I just, I always liked it. Because I mean, A, because he was joking around and I want to be able to laugh at myself. But also the bar was really low. Yeah. When you're not screwing up, making noise, making a mess, you know, doing, disbehaving, all these, you know, talking back, you're a pretty good kid when you're asleep.

19:09 When what? When all you are is my son. Because that's the depth of it right now. That's why the second reading from the letter to the Hebrews, it says that there is something that speaks. Here, the father speaks. It says, actually, the blood of Christ speaks more eloquently than that of Abel. And what does that mean? Well, the blood of Abel, remember in Genesis chapter 4, here's Cain who kills his brother Abel. and God says, the blood of Abel cries out to me for what? For justice, for vengeance, for punishment.

19:45 In Hebrews says, the blood of Christ poured out, sprinkled out there for us, speaks more eloquently than the blood of Abel that cried out for justice, for vengeance, for punishment. And what does Christ's blood cry out for? His blood cries out for mercy. His blood cries out for forgiveness. His blood cries out this, You are my child, and I love you. We have to understand this truth. God chose us and has loved us long before we knew of our weakness. God has chosen us and he's loved us. He's claimed us as his and he knew all of the brokenness. He knew all of the weakness. He knew all of the sin. And he still says, I want you. Not because you're the best kid. Not because you're the best son or daughter.

20:38 Not because you're the best brother or sister. Not because you're the best anything. because he's claimed us in Jesus Christ. He's washed us in his blood. He's made us his by his sacrifice, his life, his death, and his resurrection. And in baptism, he doesn't say you're the best. In baptism, he says, you're mine. And I love you. if we just live that truth remember humility is acknowledging and living the truth about ourselves not just that we're weak but that we're claimed what will that lead us where will that lead us that will lead us to the freedom of humility and the joy