2025 Aug 31 SUN: TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Sir 3: 17-18. 20. 28-29/ Ps 68: 4-5. 6-7. 10-11/ Heb 12: 18-19. 22-24a/ Lk 14: 1. 7-14

Wednesday morning, Andy Schwierjohn sent me an email. He had received word of the shooting at the Catholic parish in Minneapolis.

He remembered that my sister Kathy is a teacher in a Minneapolis Catholic school. So I turned to the news and it was not my sister's school.

In fact, I had spoken with her just a couple days before and I knew that her school was not starting till this week. But Kathy did inform me after this shooting that she has a number of acquaintances and connections with Annunciation Parish and School.

And we can repeat the words of many being heartbroken over this very sad event. To orient ourselves with today's Scriptures, we might think about what is described in the Letter to the Hebrews.

That writer is making a contrast between the things that were experienced in Old Testament times such as the dark cloud coming over Mount Sinai. He contrasts that with what he describes as the heavenly kingdom whereby we find ourselves in a place of light and peace, a place of joy.

And really every time we gather for Mass we are experiencing a preview of heaven itself. And so it is all the more painful that we find such a gathering interrupted in a lethal way.

We can also think about our first reading, our Psalm and our Gospel today. And we see that all of these passages are making connections between humility and what we might call solidarity.

There is a union with people who are suffering in various ways. And so we don't simply have an etiquette lesson from Jesus.

We find ourselves with that concept of humility. And as we reflect on who we are, we realize a number of things.

In light of the horror that many parents have felt, they realize that it is difficult, if not impossible, to say to a child, "I will always be able to protect you." We know our limits and we know how great a problem we are facing.

And I just read a very thoughtful column by someone who said when something of this nature occurs, our tendency is to want to blame some deficiency in the political positions of those we consider the opposition. But we know that that simple blame does not get at the heart of the matter.

It also happened this week that Pope Leo announced the theme of the World Day of Peace coming up this January 1st. The theme is "Peace be with you" -- one of the first things that Jesus himself said once he was risen.

We have to consider, and this is another bit of the work of humility, is to consider the aggression to be found in all of us. And we know that an energy toward defending ourselves is, to some extent, needed in all of us.

We must, however, consider that we are inclined against actually showing aggression. We don't want to use our fists, for instance, but we can also use words that cut and damage.

And in light of Pope Leo's theme for the World Day of Peace, he is speaking of that peace with a memorable phrase. "Peace which is unarmed and disarming." I consider that phrase, and I have said to myself, "That's a striking phrase." And right away you say, "Well, striking, there's aggression even in that word." So we have much work to do in exercising humility, and there is one more thing that we can consider.

I seem to have heard this in the news reports, but I can't say that I can confirm it. I do know what the Psalm was on that Wednesday, and it was Psalm 139. It is said that the gunfire began during the Psalm.

It happens that Psalm 139 is the great psalm about God's intimate knowledge of each of us, and his love for each of us, and the invitation that we have to grow in self-knowledge by which we can learn to have peaceful hearts, and encourage peace in others.