September 1, 2019

22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

“The Lord’s Invitation List”

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

St. Luke tells us that when Our Lord went to the home of a Pharisee for dinner, the people there were “observing him carefully.” But we can be sure that Jesus was carefully observing them! Seeing that they were vying for the places of honor, he offered a lesson to his fellow guests. It is of course a lesson for us as well. He told them, “When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not take the places of honor. You may be embarrassed, when a dignitary arrives, to be directed to the lowest place. Take rather, the lowest place and you might be called up to a higher one.”
 
This is not a lesson on social etiquette but on humility. Humility does not mean belittling yourself, becoming a “doormat” or a Casper Milquetoast. A Casper Milquetoast is someone who “speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick.”
 
The humble appreciate their God-given gifts but also acknowledge their limitations and flaws. They see both their virtues and vices. The humble do not pretend to be someone they are not, nor do they present themselves to be less than who they are. They live in reality and not in an illusion. Humility is essentially the truth about oneself. It reveals itself in modesty.
 
The modest are unassuming. They are not hard-headed or quarrelsome. They do not boast or seek out and bask in the limelight. It is said that throughout his life, the late Cardinal Basil Hume was much more fearful of praise than criticism. To a friend whose virtues were being a bit over sung in his hearing, he remarked, “Enjoy that, but don’t inhale please!” As St. Paul reminds us, “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord.” In today’s epistle he says: “Conduct your affairs with humility...humble yourself the more, the greater you are and you will find favor with God.”
 
Humility is a challenge in the spiritual life. Senator Alan Simpson applied this to our Washington scene: “Those who travel the high road of humility in Washington are not bothered by heavy traffic.” But this is true on all levels of society!
 
Jesus addressed the guests but did not spare his host a lesson: He says: When you hold a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends, family members or the wealthy...they might return the favor. Rather, invite the poor, crippled, the lame and the blind.” You will be blessed because they cannot repay you.”
 
The lesson here, of course, is not that we should not invite friends and family to dinner but that we should not do good with bad intentions, with an ulterior motive of getting something in return. He tells his host and us, to be self-less rather than self-centered. It is a lesson more about service of others rather than being self-absorbed.
 
For the Lord, the wedding banquet is an image of the kingdom of heaven. At every Mass we are given a foretaste of that heavenly feast. Here he sees us, he observes us. Let us ask him for the courage to see ourselves in all honesty and serve others rather than be self-serving. Humility, modesty and selflessness are keys to the banquet hall of the Lord.