22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke 14:1, 7-11

Humble Pie

Anointing Stone, Church of Holy Sepulchre 

Remember that school assembly when you were convinced you were getting a special award/recognition?  Remember how much you ‘knew’ you deserved it?  And remember when someone else got the honor and not you?  Were you happy for the other student?  Did you congratulate them?  Or did you skulk away with a scowl on your face and a foul mood in your heart?

We live in a very narcissistic, selfish “ME” society these days!  We see it on the news, in ads, in movies and in so many random interactions at the store or in line for food.  There is this singular drive to be #1 – to be the best teacher, athlete, politician, to have the most power or possessions, the biggest house and the most adulation, to have less wrinkles and more money!  And apparently it is all at the expense of others; it doesn’t matter who I have to step on or use in order to get there.  It’s all about ME!

We see it in today’s parable!  Someone so full of himself thinking he deserves the place of honor at a wedding banquet, the best seat in the house where all can see how important and special he is!  And then the humiliation when someone more important arrives and he is relegated to a lower spot!  How embarrassing it is when we let our pride and self-importance get in the way!

Maybe Mahatma Gandhi said it best when he listed his version of the 7 Deadly Sins!

Wealth without work

Pleasure without conscience

Knowledge without character

Business without morality

Science without humanity

Religion without sacrifice

Politics without principle

What’s missing here?  The virtue of humility, the realization that I should put the needs of others above my own!  That we are called to serve others, not to be served!  It takes us back to the Last Supper where Jesus puts on the towel of a servant and proceeds to wash the feet of the Apostles and then challenges them to make that their mission – to serve God by being of service to others, to make others’ needs more important than our own.

I remember gathering with my Mom and family for the first family dinner after my Dad passed away and taking his chair at the dining room table. It was a very humbling experience for me, a feeling that there was no way I deserved to take his chair, his place!  But then I proceeded to tell a string of my corny jokes and I suddenly realized, in that moment, that I sounded just like Dad.  And I realized that, from that moment on, I carry him with me inside.  And whenever I sit in his chair (it still will never be ‘my’ chair), he is always with me, guiding me, inspiring me, encouraging me, keeping me humble and reminding me of my Father!  And so it is with God!

We are all called to a more humble life, to seek the good of others before our own.  And that is what we hear in today’s first Reading from Sirach:

My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
 and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
 Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
 and you will find favor with God.
 What is too sublime for you, seek not,
 into things beyond your strength search not.

So, with respect to Gandhi, maybe we need to remind ourselves of the 7 Great Virtues:

 

Wealth with work

Pleasure with conscience

Knowledge with character

Business with morality

Science with humanity

Religion with sacrifice

Politics with principle

 

And all of it with a good dose of humility!