Boasting

Homily for Friday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time

In the text that we proclaim today from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, we encounter a word that St. Paul uses in several different letters – he speaks of boasting. This is not an uncommon reality in our own culture and society. In certain respects, it is almost necessary. Political campaigns include the candidates informing the voters of how much they have accomplished if they are incumbents. Some parents cannot speak of their children without enumerating their various accomplishments. People seeking employment are almost required to create a list that describes their experience and their abilities.

It probably was no different in the time of St. Paul. In a culture that actively pursues honor and avoids shame at all costs, boasting must have been an integral part of their lives. So, the statement St. Paul makes today speaks eloquently of how St. Paul views his own accomplishments: “For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me.” This sentiment is present in many of his letters, especially the letters to Timothy and Titus. St. Paul realizes that Christ is acting through him.

In the Gospel text for today, we also encounter a steward who is caught in the act of squandering his master’s property. While the motivation behind this behavior is not explicitly stated, it would not be too much of a stretch to attribute the steward’s motive as a way to inflate his sense of self-worth, to aggrandize himself in the eyes of the agents with whom he conducts business. When he is caught in his duplicity, he acts to ensure that he will not be shamed in society. At the same time, he is acting in such a way that his master would be hard-pressed to publicly punish the steward lest he become an object of shame.

Pope St. Leo the Great, the man that we remember today, is a good example of a church leader who led by example with a sense of courage. From a pastoral perspective, he galvanized charitable works in a Rome beset by famines, an influx of refugees, and poverty. He further associated the practice of fasting with charity and almsgiving particularly in Lent. It was during Leo's papacy that the term "Pope," which previously meant any bishop, came to exclusively mean the Bishop of Rome. In the year 452, Rome was besieged by a man known as Attila the Hun. It was Pope St. Leo who negotiated a peace which ultimately saved Rome from attack. For his pastoral leadership and for his defense of the faith, Pope St. Leo is the first Bishop of Rome to be given the title “great.”

The fact of the matter is that for the Christian, life is not lived for one’s self. Anyone who has ever spent time gazing at a crucifix cannot help but come to this conclusion. Jesus gave his very life for our benefit. He calls us to do the same. Participation in the Eucharist reminds us that we are to become what we eat and drink, a sacrifice of praise of God’s goodness as it appears in and through us.