Last month, our First Holy Communion class had their First Reconciliation.  Before the event, I was warned that some of the students were nervous about going to Confession for the first time.  At the First Reconciliation celebration, I asked them if they were nervous because they were involved in gang violence or international espionage.  I told them that, if that was the case, perhaps I was the one who should be nervous.  My remarks seem to have distracted some of them from their worries about their sins and their First Confession. 

The word “sin” can have very different meanings in different contexts.  The sins that might seem despicable to seven-year-olds making their First Reconciliation might not seem so egregious to adults.  The word “sin” appears in today’s Gospel reading, but it is used in a way very different from the context of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

In the Gospel reading, Peter and his companions followed Jesus’ instructions to lower their nets again after a night of disappointing results; they hauled in so many fish that their nets began to tear. (Lk 5:6)  Peter perceived this to be the result of Divine intervention.  The Gospel says that “he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, ‘Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man’.” (Lk 5:8)  

Today’s first reading depicts a similar experience.  The prophet Isaiah reacted to a vision of the heavenly court in a way similar to Peter’s reaction to the miraculous catch of fish.  Isaiah described himself as “a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips.” (Isa 6:5) 

Throughout the Scriptures, revelation of the Divine Presence inspires awe and reverence in those who witness it.  The ‘sinfulness’ experienced by Peter and the unworthiness experienced by Isaiah were not expressions of moral failure, but mere honesty.  Neither Peter nor Isaiah were confessing sin; rather, they were confessing humble gratitude for God’s favor.  Personal moral failure would have made Peter and Isaiah feel distant from God but, in these events, both men experienced closeness to God as the result of God’s mercy. 

The Scriptures record numerous similar experiences of humility in God’s presence but, sadly for us, we live in a culture that is very suspicious of humility.  To most people, humility looks like weakness or inadequacy.  The Scriptures teach that humility is not only virtuous but necessary because humility provides access to the experience of God’s presence and forgiveness. 

If you find the prospect of embracing humility to be frightening or distasteful, I’d like to suggest an easy way to clarify your opinion about humility. Take a moment to identify one thing you have, or have accomplished, that you didn’t receive from society and, by extension, from God (as pure gift).   

If you can be honest with yourself, you will admit eventually that everything you have was made possible by someone else.  The values you hold most dear are cultural values you received from society.  Your success in life was possible because of the existence of stable social structures.  Even your existence was given to you by others.  As everything you have, and are, came to you as pure gift, claiming authorship of it is laughable; the honest response is humble gratitude. 

If, after the exercise above, you remain tempted to think of yourself as entirely self-sufficient or possessing self-made success, please consider our cultural icons of rugged individualism.  In Daniel Defoe’s novel, Robinson Crusoe survived alone, living only by his wits and industriousness – but not without the indispensable help of his servant Friday, the great cache of tools and weapons he salvaged from his wrecked ship, a bountiful island, and flotsam from other ships that passed his way.   

Crusoe’s ‘solitary survival’ was solely the result of benefits he derived from human society.  If you are the rugged individual who needs no one’s help for survival, you haven’t really been paying attention to what surrounds you.  Humility isn’t the admission of weakness or dependency; rather, it is an honest assessment of one’s interactions with other people and God’s graciousness. 

Even after these considerations above, you might remain convinced that humility poses a threat to your autonomy, identity, or sense of self-esteem.  If this is the case, you might consider the nature of self-esteem.  Post-modern culture teaches us that self-esteem is the most precious currency of social interaction, but post-modern social interactions can be frighteningly violent, merciless, and degrading.  A brief glance at the news media provides sufficient evidence of this. 

Our culture’s focus on gaining and protecting one’s self-esteem isn’t the result of experiencing self-esteem; rather, it is the result of not possessing self-esteem. There’s an old saying that “Humility is a badge one loses as soon as one puts it on.”  The same sentiment applies to self-esteem; it is an experience that evaporates as soon as it becomes the focus of one’s worries.  An appropriately positive opinion of oneself is not possible in the absence of an appropriately positive opinion of all other people, and this latter act requires the great exertion of will possible only to the humble. 

God, in God’s infinite mercy, is not satisfied to offer us the possibility of merely becoming the best version of our limited selves.  God is satisfied only with offering to recreate us to be more than we could ever be on our own.  Peter didn’t humiliate himself by kneeling before Jesus; he rose above his former state of distance from God.  The only appropriate response to God’s graciousness is the humble gratitude Peter displayed.   

Perhaps, you still remain unconvinced of the efficacy of practicing humility.  Perhaps, you feel some affinity to Isaiah’s assessment of his contemporaries as “people of unclean lips.”  There is truly a great deal of injustice, dishonesty, and irresponsibility in our society.  The presence of chronic immorality can be very discouraging; it can lead one to despair over human nature.  

While such despair might seem justified and justifiable, it can also be very isolating and burdensome.  A reasonable alternative, perhaps the only alternative, to estrangement and despair is humble acknowledgment that one is not immune to the innate weakness of human nature that leads to unjust actions and malicious speech.  All of us are estranged from God and neighbor until we embrace the humility of repentance. 

Peter and Isaiah are examples of the value and necessity of humility.  They were not diminished by their humbling experiences of God’s proximity; they were elevated.  God desires to raise up all people in this way, but being raised up by God is an experience possible only to the humble.