As I think I have shared before, I was weaned on television. Sports and shows or movies. Friday night high school football, Saturday College ball and the NFL on Sunday.
then the NBA and Baseball. The college schedule was preceded by Saturday morning cartoons. The TV Guide was my bible. It took me a couple days to memorize the new fall lineup of shows. Of course I always sat too close to the TV. And, yes, I do now where glasses. So there’s that. So suffice it to say that we have a Netflix subscription. And that means…BINGE WATCHING SHOWS!! My wife hates Seinfeld. I know…go figure. So, when she is not home I would watch several episodes in a row. Got through the series in about 6 months. Same with Friends.
My latest foray into media bliss has been the show, “Mom” starring Allison Janney and Anna Farris. Along with a large ensemble cast. The thing about this show is that, at face value, it seems morally bankrupt. The premise is a Mother and daughter who have been estranged for several years but they find each other under a common scenario. Both are attending Alcoholics Anonymous due to years of alcohol and drug abuse. The daughter is the product of a one night stand and she herself is a single Mom. Did I mention that the show is a comedy? The writing is pithy and the timing of the lines is first rate.
The thing that really drew me to the show was that little by little each of the characters, who suffer from their own traumatic life experiences, discover and overcome their weaknesses and obstacles to a better life. And for each, the key ingredient to their successes is coming to the realization that they need to die to self, and focus on others in order to truly grow. Bonnie, Alison Janney’s character, is the most self centered and the most self serving of the bunch. For 8 seasons she finds new ways to make every aspect of each episode about her…until the very last episode. She is faced with dealing with one problem after another that the other characters have to face and they turn to her for help. The final scene is the final AA meeting and she is sharing with the group. As she recounts her day of struggle, she makes the realization that she did not once think of drinking. But, she says, that is not the miracle. The true miracle was that not once did she think of herself. Her motivation was the love, the desire to will the better of another, for her friends and family.
And humility is the theme of today’s readings. Paul is writing to the community in Philippi. Mostly to praise and encourage them. To show joy, even in the midst of trials and suffering. In this section from today’s portion, Paul is imprisoned (scholars are not certain where) and writes to the Philippians from jail. He is musing over two competing desires. On the one hand to suffer martyrdom and come face to face with Christ. That is the better path. The alternative is for him to be released and continue to labor on their behalf to help bring them closer to salvation. He is willing to sacrifice that which he knows will be the superior path for himself in order to aid those who God has put him in service to. He writes to them:
And I do not know which I shall choose.
I am caught between the two.
I long to depart this life and be with Christ,
for that is far better.
Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.
And this I know with confidence,
that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you
for your progress and joy in the faith,
so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me
when I come to you again.
In the Gospel, Christ is at the home of a Pharisee for a banquet and notes the guests all jockeying for position to sit at the highest position at the table. Those seats with the greatest social value. He warns them to not take a higher position for the host may come to them and force them to sit in a lower spot in favor of another person of higher social status. Thus causing humiliation in front of the other guests. He advises to sit at a lower place and have the host raise them to a higher seat. I may have mentioned in the past of my family going to Notre Dame in Paris for some major feast (can’t recall which) and I had the bright idea that we could first go to the Vespers prayer service just before the main celebration and get good seats. We sat right up front as the Church filled up behind us. Just prior to the main mass, an usher came up to us and told us that the pew was reserved and we would have to move. By this time there were few open seats and we had to split up to find places. All the while with the eyes of thousands of people fix squarely on us. It brought this parable home for me.
As Mac Davis used to sing, “Oh Lord its hard to be humble because I am perfect in every way” Don’t we all get full of ourselves at times? It is usually at the height of this that God finds a way to knock us down a notch or two. It is humility that puts everything in the right perspective. It allows us to keep things in right order: God, then others, then ourselves. As I have heard it said before (Father Burke Masters, I believe):
Being humble is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less
So here’s to having a slice of humble pie every now and again. Especially if it means that we rediscover the importance of service to others. And remember, even Paul had to get knocked off his high horse every now and again. And quite literally at first.
