Twenty-second Sunday Gospel C

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 every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  

· What is our attitude at functions and events to which we are invited?

· What is humility? Here are some thoughts:

“Humility isn't thinking little of self; it isn't thinking of self at all.”

“That the virtue of humility consists in the knowledge of certain truths, I had already recognized. These truths are: that I am nothing, that I can do nothing but sin, that I depend on God for everything--for existence, conservation, movement, and grace. What is more, I am most happy in my dependence on God, and I prefer to depend entirely on God rather than on myself.” (St. Anthony Mary Claret)

“It is proof of deep humility if one realizes that he is condemned without guilt and yet suffers in silence.  This is an excellent imitation of Christ, who innocently suffered for our guilt.” (St. Theresa)

                “One day I was wondering why God so loves the humble when it suddenly and                unexpectedly struck me that this must be because he is the supreme Truth and                humility is truth.” (St. Theresa of Avila, (Interiof Castle, VI,10)

“If we were humble, nothing would change us--neither praise nor discouragement. If someone were to criticize us, we would not feel discouraged. If someone were to praise us, we also would not feel proud.” (Mother Teresa)

Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers 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.”

· How do we apply this saying to ourselves?

· Is humility an attitude of the heart and mind, seeing ourselves through the eyes of God? As Francis of Assisi says: “I am who am as God sees me and nothing more.” Being whom God sees me to be and being that person is true humility.