In the book of Genesis, God asks Adam, “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9). Now God, who is omnipresent, and omniscient, had no need to ask Adam where he was; He knew exactly where Adam was. He was, instead, asking Adam to introspect as to where he was in relationship to God.
Where was Adam? Even though not yet expelled from the Garden of Eden, Adam was now fallen from his relationship with God. And he fell, my dear brothers and sisters, because of his sin of pride, in other words, because of a lack of humility.
Today, inspired by these words from Genesis, and from the second reading, I too ask you, do you know where you are, when you come to Mass. In the second reading, St. Paul, tells us exactly where we are when we come to Mass.
you have approached Mount Zion
and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and countless angels in festal gathering,
and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,
and God the judge of all,
and the spirits of the just made perfect,
and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.
This is where we are dear brothers and sisters, we are in the heavenly Jerusalem, participating in the commemoration of the sacrifice of Our Lord, whose blood is on the altar. A sacrifice which is attended by countless angels, and the saints, all of us in the presence of God the Father, who receives the sacrifice of His Son, who mediates between us, imperfect sinners, and the perfection of the Father.
My dear brothers and sisters, St. John Marie Vianney is credited with saying that “If we really understood the priest on earth, we would die: not of fear, but of love.” My dear brothers and sisters, if we knew what the Mass was, we too would die.
We would die, not of fear, like Adam, not the spiritual death, like Adam, but we would die to ourselves. That is, we would die to pride and grow to new life in humility, grateful that we have been permitted to attend this divine gathering; this place where the ladder of Jacob has been set up, where the angels ascend and descend praising God; and we too, through the gift of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, can ascend to heaven. If we do not recognize the reality of the Mass, then it is because of the often undignified manner in which the Mass is celebrated.
The question posed to Adam, can also be posed to us in another way, in the context of the Mass. Do we know where we are in our relationship to God when we come to Mass? In His teaching in the Gospel today Our Lord counsels humility when we come to Mass. When he refers to the wedding banquet, He is referring to the Mass – the wedding banquet of the Lamb, where He is both priest, and sacrifice. At this banquet, he counsels us,
When you are invited by someone to
a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honor.
Rather, when you are invited,
go and take the lowest place
In other words, when we come to the banquet table, let us come with humility.
We can be sacramentally humble before God, and be worthily present for the divine banquet, by making a good confession before receiving communion, which is the bread of angels that we are privileged to receive. Accusing ourselves of our sins before God is to take the lowest place at the banquet to which we have been invited. It is the best way to grow in humility! Too often, my dear brothers and sisters, we invite censure on ourselves, by receiving communion unworthily. Remember, that we may not receive communion if we are not in a state of grace. Communion is not a prize for attendance at Sunday mass! Therefore, every time you go to Mass, take the lowest place, by recognizing before God – through the priest in the confessional – that you are a sinner.
It is on recognizing ourselves as sinners, on taking the lowest place at the banquet, that we create the opportunity for the host, our Master, to come up to us and say ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’
And then, as the Gospel says,
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table (italicized emphasis added).
And who are these companions at the table? These companions, my dear brothers and sisters, are not just those physically present at the Mass, we, the spiritually, “poor, the [spiritually] crippled, the [spiritually] lame, the [spiritually] blind.” As Saint Paul teaches us today, these companions are also those who are spiritually present, the angels and the holy ones, the saints, of God.
My dear brothers and sisters, the response to the psalm this Sunday is “God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.” Let us give thanks to God, for creating this home for us, and for creating this opportunity for recognize ourselves as poor, for as the words of the hymn go:
Let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich
Because of what the
Lord has done for us”
(This homily was first preached to the faithful at the Cathedral parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria at the anticipatory Mass on 30 Aug 2025.)
(Image reference: The Confession (detail), Giuseppe Molteni, 1838, Gallerie di Piazza Scala, Milan.)
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