Humility: others first
Introduction
Paul’s imprisonment and difficulties matter very little, provided Christ be proclaimed. Christ is Paul’s life in his sufferings and his joys, in life and in death.
Our Lord invites us to his table. He knows that we are people with faults, people who have hurt him and others, by the wrong we have done and the good we have failed to do. Knowing who we are, he still loves us and invites us as his friends to join him at his table. Let us humbly take part in his meal and ask the Lord to make us more open to the humble, to people who have erred, and to the poor.
1 Reading Philippians 1:18b-26
Brothers and sisters:
As long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is being proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Indeed I shall continue to rejoice,
for I know that this will result in deliverance for me
through your prayers and support from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
My eager expectation and hope
is that I shall not be put to shame in any way,
but that with all boldness, now as always,
Christ will be magnified in my body,
whether by life or by death.
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.
If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.
And I do not know which I shall choose.
I am caught between the two.
I long to depart this life and be with Christ,
for that is far better.
Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.
And this I know with confidence,
that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you
for your progress and joy in the faith,
so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me when I come to you again.
Responsorial Psalm 42:2, 3, 5cdef
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.
I went with the throng
and led them in procession to the house of God.
Amid loud cries of joy and thanksgiving,
with the multitude keeping festival.
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.
Alleluia Matthew 11:29ab
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Luke 14:1, 7-11
On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.
He told a parable to those who had been invited,
noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.
“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honor.
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him,
and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say,
‘Give your place to this man,’
and then you would proceed with embarrassment
to take the lowest place.
Rather, when you are invited,
go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say,
‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Commentary
The saying goes: if you know a senator you know enough! Practically every society is based on a system of preferment: not what you know but whom you know. The instinct to climb like an ivy on the merits of other people, is very deep in us; nearly everyone is capable of being a social climber. Even our humility is sometimes a disguised form of climbing. With great ingenuousness St Bernard of Clairvaux wrote about “the highest peak of humility, on which, standing as though on Zion, that is, at a vantage point, [we] see the truth.” It is like the saying attributed to some proud preacher, “It’s my humility that makes me the man I am!” How uncomplicated, by contrast, the wisdom of St Francis, who praised “Sister water, so useful, humble, precious and pure,” always seeking the lowest place, and so giving life and fertility to the roots of things.
Blessing
If we want the Lord Jesus to live among us, there is only one place that fits us, the last place, the place of people who know how to serve. There is no room for pretending what we are not. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!