Word to the Wise
Monday, November 5, 2018 - Monday in the 31th Week in Ordinary Time
[Phil 2:1-4 and Luke 14:12-14]Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others. [Philippians] "When you hold a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." [Luke]
Even a casual reading of the gospels will show that table fellowship was an important preaching opportunity for Jesus. On the occasion of one such experience in the Gospel According to Luke he used it as an important moment to speak about humility and unselfishness. With St. Paul's own exhortation from Philippians ringing in our ears, we can consider Jesus comments at a dinner in the home of one of the leading Pharisees. At the beginning of the meal, on a sabbath, he creates a stir by healing a man from dropsy. Then he notices how the guests were jockeying for what were considered places of honor at the table and he tells all the guests that true humility would mean taking a lower place and letting the host decide on where you should be. Then he addresses the host himself in today's passage.
True humility in the host would mean avoiding the practice of inviting people who would, in turn, invite you back, especially if they are people of influence or wealth. Instead, true humility regards the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind as just as important if not more so than oneself, realizing that in them one is inviting the Lord himself to the banquet. Both of Jesus' comments aim directly at ego-boosting by self-promotion. If we need modern examples, we can look at the guest-lists for White House or other political banquets or where people stand at the signing ceremony of legislation at the White House or governor's mansion.
One does not have to be self-abasing to be humble. What one needs is a sober and merciful estimate of one's abilities to love God and neighbor and to put those abilities to work for God and neighbor. Power and ambition can corrode this virtue seriously. If we follow St. Catherine of Siena's advice and "dwell in the cell of self-knowledge," and follow Jesus' teaching, the Lord will see to the rewards. AMEN