Those of you who’ve been reading my little column here for years might remember I refer to this Sunday’s Gospel as the “Pirate Gospel.” Why?

Because Jesus instructs that if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

No hand + no eye = pirate.

Humility is an amazing thing.

It’s great for humor. (For example: I like exclaiming, “I’m the most humble man on the planet!” See what I did there?)

It can elicit fear. (It is commonly known that you should only pray for humility if you REALLY mean it. ESPECIALLY if you are a public speaker!)

Many years ago, my dad taught me there are two sides to humility.

One side recognizes without God, very little is possible. Did you get great grades, graduate from a prestigious university, and end up with a high-level job? I bet you worked hard to accomplish all those things? But who gave you the intellectual capacity to fill - in the first place? God.

Think of everything you’ve accomplished through hard work like this: God gave you the containers of potential. You fulfilled those containers of potential through your efforts – or responded to what He had given you.

This morning, I woke up particularly grumpy. It isn’t something that happens often, but when it does... well... it is written all over my face. My typical “too-big-for-my-face” smile is absent and replaced by an angry German disposition.

As I drove my toddler to preschool, out of nowhere, my little empath asked, “Daddy? Why you sad?”

“I’m okay, little nugget.” So, she started to sing.

After the song, “You happy now, dad?” That is when I realized I needed to pull over then and there.