The Interplay of Pride and Humility

Dear Friend,

My mother told me that once upon a time she caught the “theatre bug”.  We kids (four of us) were very young at the time, all living in St. Paul, Minnesota, where numerous “little theatres” and cabarets were recruiting for help. Mom answered an ad from the Edith Bush Theatre. She got hooked. This “bug” was never fully explained. It seemed to be something pleasant, a combination of attraction/distraction, with a touch of danger. In any event, it wouldn’t go away. I think it was an itch for life.

In recent readings, Saint Luke and Saint Paul – dramatists in their own way - go to great lengths to put us in touch with our own lives. They do it through language, seizing our imaginations with dramatic tension. This week Luke’s Jesus has us imagine that great theatre, the Temple, where a Pharisee and a tax collector are acting out their lives of prayer – a most intimate drama. Paul, meanwhile, ushers us into the drama of his own life – the athletic drama: he’s running the race, dying to be rescued from the lion’s mouth!  

In my experience, life is about the interplay of pride and humility in the face of life’s hard edges. There’s victory and loss and I have a role in both. I watched my mother as she prayed at Mass. She and my dad struggled. I could see it. All the world’s a stage.

This weekend I’ll be at a big high school reunion in Atlanta where my parents moved us from Minnesota. I’ll go back to that pew where I sat on Sundays growing up. Past and present will converge. I’ll pray for our future endeavors here at the Mission. I hope it’s not too dramatic. (Lord, have mercy!)  

Gratefully,

Father Dan ofm