***
There’s been a running joke lately about who’s been away more, Father Dan or me.
Monsignor – ever the worker bee – just smiles and says, “The boys are away.”
***
Speaking of vacations… some of you know I was in Ireland recently, and while there I celebrated Mass in Limerick.
But I noticed something unusual in the church – each pew had a family name plate attached.
When I asked the pastor why, he said the pews dated back to the days when seats were auctioned. The pews in the back went to the highest bidder – and those in the front to the lowest bidder.
“But why would someone pay to have a back row seat?” I asked.
He winked at me and said, “Humility.”
***
Humility.
It’s not a word we use often today. Some people, for example, think being humble means being a doormat or denying our self-worth.
But that’s not what Jesus means.
***
The best definition of humility I’ve ever heard comes from C.S. Lewis, who once said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself – less.”
Humility is thinking of yourself – less.
People who think of themselves less are often the ones with the best relationships with others and with the Lord himself, because they recognize who they are in the bigger scheme of things.
***
What does a humble person look like, practically?
It’s the mother who makes do with less fashionable clothing so that her children may not be out of style.
She is the best-dressed woman in the kingdom of God.
It’s the father who forgoes a round of golf to attend his child’s school concert. He is better than par as a Christian.
It’s the co-worker who concedes a trivial argument to promote peace in the workplace. That person is always right before God.
It’s the athlete who does not rejoice in the error of her opponent. She’s the winner of eternal glory.
It’s the person who does not take offense at every casual remark or trivial gesture.
In that sense, humility is the enemy of over-sensitivity, one of the defining characteristics of American society today.
***
The opposite of humility is pride, thinking my needs are somehow more important than yours.
It’s a temptation that plays itself out, even subtly, throughout our day.
Think of the guest in the Gospel who takes the highest seat of honor without asking. He just presumes he deserves it.
That’s pride.
Pride is also the person driving aggressively on the Parkway as if there’s no one else on the road.
It’s the person who always needs to be right, the one who must be recognized, who must be first in line or have the last word.
***
Is that person ever me?
I know at times I’m guilty.
***
Perhaps the back pews in that church from Ireland were considered “prime real estate” because the pastor could never see whether you were there or not.
So long as you made your donation you were “blessed.”
But that’s not how we become blessed in the eyes of the Lord, who doesn’t look into our pockets; he looks into our hearts.
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,” he says. “But everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.”
How, then, can we think of ourselves less and more of others?