Book I, Homily 2 Remixed: Your Overly Rosy Self-Evaluation Is Going To Be The Death of You (John Harpsfield)

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The Holy Spirit never more carefully inspired the Holy Scripture than when demolishing human pride and self-regard, vices universally grafted within all of us, a blight as old as Adam. And therefore many lessons that condemn pride and praise humility are scattered throughout the pages of the Bible. If you want to know yourself, find yourself, and determine, “Who am I really?,” these Biblical examples are all you need.

In the third chapter of Genesis, God gives us all a title and name through our great grandfather Adam, which ought to warn us all to reflect upon who we really are, what we are, our origin, and our destination, saying, “only by the sweat of your brow will you win your bread until you return to the earth: for from it you were taken. Dust you are, to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19). Here we see ourselves in the mirror and find that we are merely ground, earth, and ashes and that to earth and ashes we shall return.

Indeed, Father Abraham did well when he remembered this name and title: dust, earth, and ashes, appointed and assigned by God to all humanity; and therefore he called himself by that very name, when he earnestly bargained for the lives of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:27).

And we read that Judith, Esther, Job, Jeremiah, and other holy men and women in the Old Testament used sackcloth and cast dust and ashes upon their heads when they repented of their sinful living (Est. 4:1-3; Job 42:6; Jer. 6:26; Jud. 4:11-15; Jud. 9:1). They called and cried to God for help and misery dressed in sackcloth, dust, and ashes with great ceremony, so that they could declare to the whole world how humble and lowly they considered themselves to be, how well they remembered their name and title: their vile, corrupt, frail nature of dust, earth, and ashes.

The book of Wisdom is also willing to demolish our pride and urges us to remember our mortal and earthly condition, which we all have received from Adam. Wisdom tells that every human being, kings as well as subjects, come into the world and go out of the world in the same way: that is, as dirty and helpless beings, as we may see daily (Wisd. 7:1-6).

And Almighty God commanded the Prophet Isaiah to make a proclamation to the whole world. And Isaiah asked, “What shall I cry?” To which the Lord answered, “All mortals are grass, they last no longer than a wild flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the blast of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass! The grass may wither, the flower fade…” (Isaiah 40:6-8). And the holy man Job, who had himself deep experience of the wretched and sinful human condition, reveals the same to the world in these words: “Every being born of woman is short-lived and full of trouble. He blossoms like a flower and withers away; fleeting as a shadow, he does not endure…And do you consider it proper, O Lord, that is on such a creature that you fix your eyes, and bring him into court before you. Who can produce the pure from the unclean? No one.” (Job 14:1-4).

And all of us, because of our evilness and natural weakness are so universally inclined to sin that the Scriptures say that God repented that he ever made humanity (Gen. 6:6). Indeed, God’s indignation was so much provoked against humanity that he drowned all the world with Noah’s flood (except for Noah and his little household) (Gen. 6-9).

It is for no light cause that the Scripture calls every person in the world by this word, “earth, earth, earth! Hear the word of the Lord,” says Jeremiah (Jer. 22:29). “Earth” is our right name, calling, and title. The phrase “earth, earth, earth”, pronounced by the Prophet, shows what we are indeed, no matter what style, title, or dignity others call us. In this way, He clearly named us, who knows best, both what we are, and what we correctly should be called.

And He told us through his faithful Apostle St. Paul, “Jews and Greeks alike are under the power of sin. There is no one righteous, no, not one; no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have swerved aside, all alike have become debased; there is no one to show kindness: no, not one. Their throats are open tombs, they use their tongues for treachery, adders’ venom is on their lips, and their mouths are full of bitter curses. Their feet hasten to shed blood, ruin and misery mark their tracks, they are strangers to the path of peace, and reverence for God does not enter their thoughts” (Rom. 3:9-18).

And later in the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes, “For in shutting all in the prison of their disobedience, God’s purpose was to show mercy to all” (Rom. 11:32). The Scripture has declared the whole world to be prisoners in subjection to sin, so that faith in Jesus Christ should be the ground on which the promised blessing is given to those who believe (Gal. 3:22).

And in these words and throughout his other letters, St. Paul lets our true colors shine through, calling us children of the wrath of God from birth (Eph. 2:3), saying also that we cannot think a good thought by ourselves, much less can we speak well or do well by our own power.

The wise man says in the Book of Proverbs, “The just man falls seven times a day” (Prov. 24:16). The most tried and true man, Job, feared all his works (Job 9:28: V).

Think on this. St. John the Baptist was sanctified in his mother’s womb and was praised before he was born, being called forerunner of the Lord and great in the eyes of the Lord. John the Baptist was even filled with the Holy Spirit from birth to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 1:15, 17, 76), and was commended by the Lord Jesus as more than a prophet and the greatest born of woman (Matt. 11:11).

Yet John clearly admitted that he needed to be baptized by Jesus (Matt. 3:14). He worthily praised and glorified Jesus as Lord and master and humbled himself as unworthy to untie his sandals (Matt. 3:11).

St. Paul frequently and clearly confesses that he is in a similar and low state, ever giving all praise (as a most faithful servant would) to his master and Savior. In addition, St. John the Evangelist, in his own name and in the name of all holy men, no matter how righteous they are, makes this open confession, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth in not in us. But if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). Which is why the wise man in the book called Ecclesiastes makes this true and general confession, “There is not one just man upon the earth at does good and does not sin” (Ecc. 7:20).

And David is ashamed of his sin, but has no shame in confessing it. How often, how earnestly, and with much regret does he ask for God’s great mercy on his great offences, and that God should not call him to judgment (Ps. 143:2)? And again, how skillful an accountant of sins is this holy man, when he confesses that they are so many in number, so secret, and difficult to understand, that it is impossible to know, say, or number them (Ps. 40:12)? When David truly, earnestly, and deeply contemplated and considered his sins, but could not find the bottom of him, he prayed to God to forgive him for his secret, hid sins: sins he had no way of knowing or recalling (Ps. 19:12).

David correctly traces his sins to their original root and springhead, perceiving that the inclinations, provocations, stirrings, stingings, buds, branches, dregs, infections, tastes, feelings, and senses of sin continue in him still. Which is why he says, “Take notice and behold that I was conceived in sins” (Ps. 51:5: V). He does not say sin in the singular. He says sins in the plural, for out of one sin, all the rest can spring as out of a fountain.

Our Savior Christ says, “There is none good, but God” (Luke 18:19; Matt. 19:17; Mark 10:18) and that we can do nothing that is good without him (John 15:5), nor can any man come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Jesus commands us also to say that we are unprofitable servants, when we have done all that we can do (Luke 17:10). He prefers the tax collector who repents to the proud, holy, and glorious Pharisee (Luke 18:10-14). He calls himself a Physician, but not to those who are whole, but to those that are sick and need of his ointment for their sores (Matt. 9:12). When he taught his disciples (and therefore us) to pray, he taught us to remember that we are sinners, and to ask for righteousness and deliverance from all evils, at our heavenly Father’s hand (Matt. 6:12-13). He declares that the sins of our own hearts defile us (Matt. 15:11, 17-20). He teaches us that an evil word or thought deserves condemnation, affirming that we shall give account for every idle word (Matt. 12:36-37). He says that He only came to save only the sheep that there were utterly lost and otherwise would never return home (Matt. 15:24).

Therefore, few of the proud, just, educated, wise, perfect, and holy Pharisees were saved by Him, because they justified themselves to their neighbors rather than God by their counterfeit holiness. For this reason, good people, let us beware of such hypocrisy, false glory, and justifying of ourselves. Let us bow our heads to look at our feet. Let us strip off our peacock feathers and cast away our proud hearts. Let us finally recognize that we are frail and brittle vessels made of ordinary clay.

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Since truly knowing ourselves is extremely necessary to come to know God, you have heard in the first part how little our greatest forerunners in the faith thought of themselves, having been taught to do so by God their Creator through His holy word.

By ourselves, we are crabtrees that can produce no apples. By ourselves, we are soil that can grow nothing bur weeds, nettles, brambles, briars, false wheat and tares. Our fruits are numbered a fat zero in the fifth chapter of the Letter to the Galatians. We do not possess faith, charity, hope, patience, chastity, nor anything else good without the help of God. Therefore, these virtues are called there the fruits of the Holy Spirit and not the fruits of human beings (Gal. 5:19). Let us therefore acknowledge ourselves before God as miserable and wretched sinners (as we indeed are). And let us earnestly repent, humble ourselves fully, and cry to God for mercy. Let us all confess with mouth and heart, that we are full of imperfections. Let us know our own works, how imperfect they are, and then we shall not stand foolishly and arrogantly in our own conceits, nor ever think we are justified by the quality of our deeds and the content of our characters.

For truly our greatest deeds are full of imperfections. We do not love God as much as we should: with all our heart, mind, and power. We do not fear God as much as we ought to do. We pray to God, but our prayers are full of great and many imperfections. We give forgive, believe, live, and hope imperfectly. We give and forgive imperfectly. We speak, think, and do imperfectly. We fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh imperfectly.

Yes, let us not be ashamed to confess imperfection, even in all our best works. Let none of us be ashamed to say with holy St. Peter, “I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). Let us say with the holy Prophet David, “We have sinned just our ancestors did, we have done error, and treated one another wickedly” (Ps. 106:6). Let us all make open confession with the Prodigal Son to our father and say with him, “We have sinned against heaven and before you, O Father, we are not worthy to be called your children” (Luke 15:18-19). Let us say with holy Baruch, “O Lord our God, we are worthy to be called shameful just as much as you are worthy to be called righteous. We have sinned, we have done wicked things, we have behaved ourselves unrighteously in proportion to all your righteousness” (Bar. 2:6, 12). Let us all say with the holy Prophet Daniel, “O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, to us belongs confusion. We have sinned. We have been naughty. We have offended. We have fled from you. We have turned away from all your precepts and judgments” (Dan. 9:7-11).

 So we learn from all these good people in the Holy Scriptures to humble ourselves and to exalt, extol, praise, magnify, and glorify God. Thus we have heard how evil we are, how in our selves and by ourselves, we have no goodness, help, nor salvation but instead sin, damnation, and death everlasting, which if we deeply weigh and consider, we will better understand the great mercy of God and how our salvation comes only by Christ.

For in ourselves and by ourselves, we find nothing by which we may be delivered from this miserable captivity in which we were cast by the envy of the devil, by the breaking of God’s commandment by our first parent, Adam (2 Cor. 3:5). We have all become unclean, but we all are not able to cleanse ourselves, not to make one another clean (Ps. 51:1-10). We are by nature the children of God’s wrath, but we are not able to make ourselves the children and heirs of God’s glory (Eph. 2:3). We are sheep that have gone astray, but we cannot by our own power return again to the sheepfold, so great is our imperfection and weakness (1 Pet. 2:25).

We may not glorify ourselves, for we are nothing but sinful, nor may we rejoice in any works that we do, which are all so imperfect and impure that they are not able to stand before the righteous judgment seat of God, as the holy prophet David says, “Do not bring your servant to trial, O Lord, for no man who lives will be found righteous in your sight” (Ps. 143:2).

 We therefore must flee to God, or else we shall never find peace, rest, and quietness of conscience in our hearts. For He is the Father of mercies and God of all consolation (2 Cor. 1:3). He is the Lord, whose redemption is plentiful (Ps. 130:7). He is the God who saves us out of his own mercy and extends his one-way love toward us (Tit. 3:5; Rom. 5:8). When we were dead, he voluntarily saved us and provided us with an everlasting Kingdom. And all these heavenly treasures are given to us, not because we deserve them, merit them, or have done good deeds to obtain them (for we have done nothing and deserve nothing) but of his mere mercy he has freely given us everything.

And for whose sake? For the sake of Jesus Christ, that pure and undefiled lamb of God (1 Pet. 1:19). He is that dearly beloved Son, for whose sake God is fully pacified, satisfied, and reconciled with human beings. He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), of whom only it may be said, that he did all things well (Mark 7:37), and in his mouth was found neither guile nor subtlety (1 Pet. 2:22:V). No one but He may say, “The prince of the world is approaching, and he has no rights over me” (John 14:30) And He alone also may say, “Which of you will reprimand me for any fault?” (John 8:46). He is the high and everlasting Priest, who has offered himself once for all upon the altar of the cross and with that one offering, has eternally perfected those who are sanctified (Heb. 7:24-27, 10:14). He is the only mediator between God and man, who has paid our ransom to God with his own blood, and with which he has cleansed us from all sin (1 Tim. 2:5-6; Rev. 5:9, 1:5). He is the Physician, who heals all our diseases (Ps. 103:3). He is that Savior who saves his people from all their sins (Matt. 1:21).

In summary, he is that flowing and most plentiful fountain, whose fullness of grace we all have received (John 1:16). For in him alone are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God (Col. 2:3). And in Him and by Him, we have from God the Father all good things, pertaining either to the body or to the soul (Rom. 8:32).

O how tightly are we tied to this our heavenly Father for his great mercies, which he has so abundantly declared to us in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior! What worthy and sufficient thanks can we give to Him. Let us all with one accord burst out with joyful voice, ever praising and magnifying the Lord of mercy, for his tender kindness showed to us in his dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord.

To this point, we have heard what we are in our selves, very sinful, wretched, and worthy of damnation. Again, we have heard how that in ourselves and by ourselves, we are not either to think a good thought or do a good deed, so that we can find in ourselves no hope of salvation but rather all those things that lead to our destruction. Again, we have heard the tender kindness of God the Father towards us, and how kind and generous he is to us for Christ’s sake, without our merits or deserving, solely because of his own mercy and tender goodness.

Now, how these exceeding great mercies of God, declared to all in Christ Jesus, are obtained for us, and how we are delivered from the captivity of sin, death, and hell, it will be declared (with God’s help) more extensively in the next homily.

In the meantime, yes, and at all times, let us learn to know ourselves, our frailty, and weakness, without any crowing or boasting of our own good deeds and merits. Let us also acknowledge the exceeding mercy of God towards us and confess that just as all evil and damnation comes from us, so from Him comes all goodness and salvation, as God Himself says through Prophet Hosea, “O Israel, your destruction comes from you alone. I am only your help and comfort” (Hos. 13:9:V). If we thus humbly submit ourselves in the sight of God, we may be sure that in the time of his visitation, He will lift us up into the kingdom of his dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ Our Lord. To whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory forever. Amen.