Know Your Place

(Trinity Sunday 2016: This homily was given on May 22, 2016 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Psalm 8.)  

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Trinity Sunday 2016]

There’s an old saying: Know your place.

That, I believe, is the Lord’s message to us today, especially in the responsorial psalm:

Know your place.

Now what’s interesting about that particular saying is that it can be used in either a positive way or a negative way.  Negatively it can be used to remind people that they should show more respect for others—specifically for those in authority; or it can be used to indicate to people that they shouldn’t overstep their bounds.  And then there’s this little “insight” that I came across online the other day (and here I quote): “In modern societies, this phrase is sometimes used … toward the female gender, such as: ‘Know your place, woman.’”

None of the men here, of course, has ever said such a thing—but apparently some guys have!

And yet, the saying can also be used in a very positive way, reminding us of our importance and value as human beings.

One of the reasons I love Psalm 8—part of which was sung as today’s responsorial psalm in between the first and second readings—is that BOTH senses of the saying Know your place are found in it.

Let me read to you now the psalm in its entirety:

How great is your name, O Lord our God,
through all the earth!

Your majesty is praised above the heavens;
on the lips of children and of babes
you have found praise to foil your enemy,
to silence the foe and the rebel.

When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,
the moon and the stars which you arranged,
what is man that you should keep him in mind,
mortal man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him little less than a god;
with glory and honor you crowned him,
gave him power over the works of your hands,
put all things under his feet.

All of them, sheep and cattle,
yes, even the savage beasts,
birds of the air, and fish
that make their way through the waters.

How great is your name, O Lord our God
through all the earth!

The writer of that psalm—be it King David or someone else—definitely knew his place.  In that respect, he’s a great role model for all of us.  Negatively speaking, for example, he knew his place in the sense that he clearly understood that he was not God!—which is why he began the psalm by acknowledging the real One: How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!  Your majesty is praised above the heavens; on the lips of children and of babes you have found praise to foil your enemy, to silence the foe and the rebel.

He also knew his place in that he recognized his relative “smallness” compared to everything else in the material universe (and this was long before people knew just how immense the universe actually is!).   Here he was also implicitly admitting his own weakness and sinfulness—as well as the weakness and sinfulness of humanity in general: When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him?

But the writer of this psalm also understood that his “smallness” (and the smallness of humanity) was only half the story!  Yes, he knew that he was, in a certain sense, just a little “speck” in the vastness of God’s creation—and a very imperfect speck at that!  But at the very same time he knew that he was a glorious speck, because—unlike everything else in the material universe—he was made in the image and likeness of the Creator himself:  Yet you have made him little less than a god; with glory and honor you crowned him, gave him power over the works of your hands, put all things under his feet.  All of them, sheep and cattle, yes, even the savage beasts, birds of the air, and fish that make their way through the waters.

The writer of the 8^th psalm definitely knew his place in the grand scheme of things.

I mention this today because we’re living in a world right now where many people do not know their place—nor do some of them even care to know their place—and the consequences of this are often disastrous.  Some don’t know their place, for example, because they think they’re God!  They write their own rules for their lives; they don’t ever stop to consider that there might actually be an authority beyond themselves that they’re accountable to. 

If they were honest about it, they would tell you that they think the first line of Psalm 8 should be changed to include their name!

“How great is your name, O Fr. Ray, through all the earth!”

Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it?

Well, remember it would sound just as ridiculous with your name in there—or anyone else’s.

Others who don’t know their place do understand their smallness—their failures, their weaknesses, their sins, etc.—but they forget their intrinsic value as human beings created in the image and likeness of Almighty God.  All of which makes them prone to despair.

Sadly, the number in this particular group appears to be growing at an alarming rate—at least according to the New York Times.  On the Times’ website this past April 22^nd an article appeared that had the following disturbing headline: “U.S. Suicide Rate Surges to a 30-Year High.”

That title says it all.

And then there are those who know their own personal dignity as human beings, but who fail to recognize that very same dignity in other people, and who fail to recognize the uniqueness of human beings compared with the rest of God’s creation.  The best way I can illustrate what this group is like is with a quote from Fr. Brian Sistare that I found on his blog the other day:

When I first attended the University of Rhode Island back in 1992, I joined three groups that were on campus: an animal rights group called SETA (Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), a pro-life group, and a group against racism.  What I found very interesting was the fact that the majority of the students in SETA were for abortion.  Even as a freshman at URI who believed in God but was far from practicing the Catholic Faith that I was baptized into, I couldn’t, for the life of me, understand how a person could be so pro-animal while at the same time being so anti-human.  How could one stand up for animals and at the same time, be very vocal against the life of human beings in the wombs of their mothers?  I actually left the animal rights group because of that hypocrisy.  This hypocrisy continues in our current culture of death as over 3000 babies a day are killed in the wombs of their mothers through abortion, while any mistreatment of an animal in our society is treated with swift justice.I say all of this as someone who truly loves animals.  I have a dog, two gerbils, a gecko, and 10 fish.  I take care of each of them as my “own” family.  Yet, at the same time, I know that human beings were created in the image and likeness of God.  Each of us has human dignity, and our lives are invaluable.  We have eternal souls that Jesus died on the Cross for…. Let us pray that our current culture of death that seems to value animal life on a higher level than human life, changes into a civilization of life and love where every human life is welcomed, loved, and treated with respect and reverence, regardless of size, race, or age.  

The writer of the 8^th psalm would certainly say “Amen” to that!

As Fr. Brian indicates there, if everyone knew their place—and the place of their fellow human beings—the world would be a much better place.

To know your place, spiritually speaking, is to see yourself as God sees you (to the extent that you can do that here on earth).

That’s the bottom line.

St. Francis of Assisi said it perfectly when he wrote, “Remember: You are what you are in the eyes of God and nothing else.”

That means “nothing more”—but, thankfully, it also means “nothing less.”