Humble Hispanic Man

Seeing the sacred in the simplicity of the sacraments

05/30/2021

Matthew 28:16-20 The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

Can I tell you something that really bugs me about being Catholic? It is how super simple the seven sacraments are. They are so ordinary it is easy to overlook them, and feel they are overrated. For instance, we pour a little water over a baby’s head in baptism and it becomes a child of God. Oh, really? We whisper a few words over bread and wine and we behold the Body and Blood of Christ at Mass. Yeah, right. A smidge of sacred oil on your forehead confirms you as a soldier for Christ. Sure it does. If you were Jesus and you had one shot to leave the world the best you had, would you leave behind these seven, simple sacraments?

Why did Jesus institute the ordinary to convey the extraordinary, the temporal to signify the eternal, and the human to express the divine? Why not a little shock and awe when we celebrate the sacraments, like the ending of “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lord Ark.” Remember when the Nazis opened the Ark and awe-inspiring angels appear and turn the bad guys into dust and ashes? Maybe more would come if Mass was like that. But I suspect that if the sacraments were more spectacular we would take pride in them, like they are our prized possession (like the Nazis wanted to do), and we would love the gifts more than the Giver (God).

Instead, the sacraments are extremely earthly – water, oil, bread and wine – in order to teach us humility. Humility comes from the word “humus” which means ground or earth. Only those people who are down to earth are humble. In other words, the sacraments are not only for the humble; they are strategically set-up to humble us, that is, to overcome our pride. That is why so many Catholics who leave for college also leave the Church; they are too smart and sophisticated for the simplicity of the sacraments. They are too proud. Maybe the reason the simplicity of the sacraments bugs me so much is because it points out my pride. The shock and awe serves my ego.

This weekend we celebrate a milestone in the life of Immaculate Conception Church, namely, the priestly ordination of Omar Galvan, a young man from our parish. But if we are not careful we can overlook Holy Orders hidden in a humble Hispanic man. Do you remember how in 1 Samuel 16, the prophet Samuel went to Jesse to anoint the next king of Israel? Jesse brought out his best and brightest boys. But God said: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have reject him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sm 16:7). Instead, God wanted to anoint David, Jesse’s smallest son. In other words, we like Jesse look for shock and awe, but God looks for the humble of heart, like King David and Fr. Omar.

Let me give you an example of how down to earth Fr. Omar is. When he was a 5 year-old, the Galvan family prayed the rosary every night, but Omar had other plans besides praying. He said: “I would sit next to my sister or brother and poke them in the side. I would even stop the rosary and tattle-tale on my sister who was falling asleep.” He went on: “I would sometimes throw little beans from across the room at my siblings because I was forcing them to suffer with me.” In other words, just as God called Saul the Pharisee the great persecutor of the Church, so God has called Omar, the great persecutor of his siblings. God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary.

Fr. Omar’s first priestly assignment will be St. Raphael in Springdale, the largest parish in our diocese with over 25,000 parishioners. He was asked which sacrament he most looked forward to celebrating as a priest. Most priests answer they want to say Mass or hear confessions. But Fr. Omar said: “This is going to sound really weird, but I am just in love with the sacrament of marriage.” He explained why, adding: “The sacrament itself shows God’s love in a perfect way. Two people love each other so much and their love becomes a third person in procreation, and that in itself is a beautiful image of God, the Holy Trinity.”

By the way, today is Trinity Sunday, one of the hardest Sundays to deliver a sermon because who can possibly explain the Holy Trinity? It is the mystery of mysteries. But because Fr. Omar is so down to earth, he can see the central mystery of our faith explained eloquently in something as mundane as marriage. That is how the humble can see the holy, while the proud only perceive what C. S. Lewis called “four bare legs in a bed.” Can you see the Most Holy Trinity reflected in your most lowly family? That is how God uses the human to express the divine.

Today we celebrate the Mass of Thanksgiving of a priest from our parish, Fr. Omar Galvan. And today we also give thanks as a parish. Why? Well, we see again the surprising simplicity of the sacraments, the lack of shock and awe. As you look at our newly ordained priest, Fr. Omar Galvan, do you see an “alter Christus” (another Christ), or just a humble Hispanic man in a Roman collar? When you look at your marriage, do you see a reflection of the Holy Trinity, or just "four bare legs in a bed"? Sometimes the simplicity of the sacraments really bugs me.

Praised be Jesus Christ!