What do all of these characters have in common? Gaston, Mr. Darcy, Regina George, Gilderoy Lockhart. These characters do precisely the opposite of what St. Paul asks of us. Do nothing out of selfishness and vainglory. St. Thomas Aquinas says that vainglory is the excessive need for the approval of others.
All of these characters are vainglorious. They don’t have pride. They don’t want to be the best. All they want is social status. All they want is the approval of others. As Christians, we fall into vainglory, and the way to fight against vainglory is to do what the saints did, which is to be more concerned with how God sees us. We don’t need the approval of others. We need God to speak the words of truth to our hearts: you are made good, seen, loved, and known, which can never be taken away from you. So fight against vainglory and let God tell you who you are.
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Uncomfortable for Jesus
So Jesus sounds like Yoda for this Sunday’s gospel. He says the foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay His head. It sounds cryptic. What Jesus is not saying has anything to do with Airbnb accommodations, but the part of Jesus’ heart that he is sharing with us is that when it comes to following him, sometimes we have to be uncomfortable. I’m very awkward. I have no power…
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Don’t Say Whatever, Say Amen
I’ve been to many weddings recently. Love is in the air. At one wedding, a man came into the church wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. The best man approached him and said, “Dude, you can’t be here like this.” And the friend responded, “Whatever, man.” In the Gospel, for this Sunday, a wedding guest is not wearing his wedding garment. He’s saying to the whole wedding party…
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Humbling Ourselves
Jesus could have entered Jerusalem on a horse, the way powerful people did. Instead, He chose a donkey.
In this Sunday’s first reading, Zechariah prophesies that the Messiah will come riding on an ass, a sign of humility, not worldly power. Jesus shows us that true authority doesn’t come from status or force. It comes from service.
That’s the heart of Christian leadership: to serve, to humble ourselves, and to love even when love is difficult. If we want to be exalted with Christ, we first have to learn how to become servants.
