“Conduct your affairs with humility.”

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Gospel: Luke 14: 1, 7-14

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.” 
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.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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A few years ago, I traveled to Ireland with a friend. While there, we celebrated Mass in his hometown church. It was a tiny chapel perched on a hill.

Walking in for the first time, I noticed something unusual…  each pew had a name plate. Walking down the aisle you could read them all: “O’Callaghan. O’Connor. Murphy. Duffy. Doyle.”

When I asked “why,” he said the pews dated back to when the chapel was built. Each pew was auctioned off as a fundraiser. The last pew went to the highest bidder – and the first pew went to the lowest bidder.

“But why would someone pay to have a back row seat?” I asked him. “You could barely see the priest – and he could barely see you! You might even go unnoticed.”

He winked at me and said, “Humility.”

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Humility.

It’s not a word that we use often today. Some people think that being humble means being a doormat or denying our self-worth. 

But that’s not what Jesus means when he speaks about being humble – or taking the lowest seat – in today’s Gospel. 

The word “humility” comes from the Latin, “humus,” meaning, “earth.” A humble person is well-grounded; their feet are firmly planted, allowing them to stand – not above or below – but shoulder to shoulder with their neighbor.

As Jesus says, a humble person is comfortable being with, “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,” and those “unable to repay you.”

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C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself – less.”

Humility means thinking of yourself… less.

It means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others.

So, what identifies a humble person?

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Humility is the spouse who foregoes the last word, or the need to be right in an argument, in order to preserve peace in the household. 

It’s the athlete who gets second place in a competition but sincerely congratulates the winner.

It’s the dad who foregoes a golf game in order to attend his child’s recital… or a meeting at church. 

It’s your prayer partner who prays for you, not only at this Mass, but all week long. 

It’s the person who quietly drops off fresh baked cookies for our café, or cleans the linens for church. 

Often, these acts of kindness go unnoticed, but the humble person doesn’t do it for the recognition; they do it genuinely out of love.

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Humility also means the ability to say, “no.”

There are so many demands placed upon our time. A humble person knows when – and how – to politely decline. They recognize that they cannot be everywhere at once; they only do what they can.

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So, what exactly is humility?

It is hard to define.

But you know humility when you see it… and you know it when you don’t.

I think of those church pews back in Ireland. While the priest couldn’t always see the people seated in the back, everyone else who entered the church could. They’d walk right pass them, admiring just how “humble” they were.

Maybe that was the case. Maybe they were not only generous, but also humble. Their neighbors could’ve told you.

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But in what ways is the Lord inviting us to be a little humbler this week, to think of others more and ourselves less?

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As our first reading from Sirach reminds us, “Conduct your affairs with humility… and you will find favor with God.”

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Image credits: (1) The New York Times (2) Pew, Wikipedia (3) Focolore.org