Cycle C - Year II:  

28 August 2016: Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical color: Green)

Gospel: Please read  Luke 14:1, 7-14

Seek God with humble heart!

Wealth and power may give a person the illusion of greatness and immortality. Because they can give one a false sense of importance and personal worth.

But can wealth and power buy us a ticket to eternal life? Recall that last Sunday's liturgy Jesus admonished us to travel light, meaning without excess baggage, so that we can enter through the narrow gate to God's kingdom.

In a world so much consumed by materialism, power and greed, our Lord Jesus reminds us again to be authentic Christian witnesses for the Lord's kingdom in our every day life situations.

In the Gospel narrative from St. Luke for this Sunday, Jesus accepts

an invitation from one of the Pharisees to come and dine at his house. While there, Jesus observes how the other guests scramble for choice seats of honor at the dining table.

Now we know that Jesus is a great and practical teacher. He was always looking for ways to preach to His followers. Occasionally, He would masterfully craft a story to explain the Good News. At other times, Jesus would take a real life event and use it as a powerful teaching moment. Still on other occasions, Jesus would use a combination of these two modes of preaching. This Sunday's Gospel passage is an example of this last method.

So our Lord Jesus seizes the gathering at the house of His host to teach His followers, not with proper table manners, but with our inner disposition before the "table of the Lord".

In the Lord's table, there is no place for self-righteousness nor for human desire for honor and recognition. Rather, in the Lord's feast there are places only for humility, joy, and thanksgiving for the blessings we have been invited to share.

For Christians, humility is the foundation of all other virtues. True humility is not having a low opinion of yourself, or thinking of yourself as inferior to others.

The truth is that a humble person makes a realistic assessment of himself without illusion of pretense to be someone or something he is not. Thus, a humble person does not have to wear a mask or put on a facade in order to look good to others who do not know who he really is. He is not swayed by accidentals, such as fame, reputation, success or failure.

In sum, humility frees us to love and serve others selflessly, for their sake, rather than our own need for recognition. It allows us to see ourselves as blessed, so that we can share with others the bountiful blessings we also receive from the Lord.

More importantly, humility invites us to be honest about our faults, weaknesses and sins. Thus, it keeps us on our knees, praying for God's strength, mercy and assistance. But also, humility encourages us to be honest about our gifts and talents as well, and encourages us to discover them, cultivate them, and put them to good use for the greater glory of God, through Christian charity and love.

May we have the strength and grace to humble ourselves, before the banquet of the Lord, so that one day the Lord Himself will also exalt us.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!