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Bishop's Homily for the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

October 26, 2025

(Maykol Nack / Shutterstock.com)

Homily of the Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu
[St. Lawrence the Martyr Church, Santa Clara, CA (with Infant Baptism)]

I once lived in a rectory with three other priests, and we would often have dinner together. There were no assigned places at the table, but the last one to arrive would sit at the head of the table. Except for one of the priests. If he was the last to arrive, he would make someone else move to the head of the table because he was too humble to sit at the head of the table, even if it meant inconvenience for someone else to move.  This was a man who was very proud of his humility!

Jesus, of course, might have a few words to say to him, as he did to those to whom he addressed the parable in today’s Gospel. But, let’s admit it, we can all have tendency to exalt ourselves, and Jesus warns us that this is not for our own good.

Many married couples develop serious problems when they look out for their own needs first rather than look to the needs of the spouse.  I recall the man who went to his priest because he was seriously contemplating divorce, since he and his wife were always in conflict, and life had become miserable. The priest advised him to go home and, just for a week, do whatever his wife wanted him to do, without arguing or protesting.  After a week, the man went back to the priest, who asked him how things went.  The man said, “Father, it was an amazing week! We felt like we were on a second honeymoon! I thought what you were asking me to do was impossible, but I figured I could manage anything for a week. The change in our relationship is amazing!” And the priest explained to him that before, each one seemed to have the attitude “What’s in it for me?”, rather than, “How can I please my spouse.” When you humble yourself, you will be amazed at the graces that come your way.

Sometimes there are rifts in families, and some become too proud to communicate with others who have supposedly done something offensive. And the rift quickly develops into resentments and even hatred. If one humbles oneself to apologize, or to simply listen carefully to another person’s perspective, then there is hope of reconciliation and restoration of true love among family members.  The same, of course, could be said of political parties or nations who are enemies of one another. It sometimes takes a large dose of humility, trying to reach out to and understand the other, before there can be true peace.

As we celebrate Baptism today, we recall what an amazing sacrament this is. God humbles himself by allowing mere creatures who are soaked in original sin to be soaked instead in his holy name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What a great gift it is that God has so humbled himself that he sent his Son Jesus to be food and drink for us. It is this amazing humility of God that can inspire us to humble ourselves in service to one another.

Today, this child will become a special child of God in Baptism. This is not to say that God loves this child any more than he loves any other child, but that this child is privileged to experience the humility of God embracing her, pouring out his love upon her. He does this so that she – and all of us who are baptized – can be instruments of pouring out God’s love upon others for the rest of our lives, not hoarding the good things God has given us, but humbly sharing the wonderful gifts he gives us.

This, of course, must always lead to thanksgiving of God for his great mercy to us, who are undeserving sinners. It is not a cause for our own pride, but for our humbly acknowledging that all we have and all we accomplish is a gift from God. We come to this altar Sunday after Sunday, so that we can humbly acknowledge our sins and thereby open ourselves to receive the wonderful graces of God even more abundantly.  And once we have received these graces, we are sent out to share them with the poor, the suffering, those living in conflict, and those caught up in the pride that blinds them to the goodness of others.  We go home justified, because we realize that all is from God, who desires to immerse us fully into his humble love.