Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time C. August 29, 2004. Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30. Sirach 3:17-18, 28-29. Hebrews 12: 19, 22-24a.. Luke 14: 1, 7-14.

In one of the ancient fables of Aesop a frog dreamed of being able to fly through the sky. One day he watched a stork standing in the shallow water of a stream waiting for fish to swim by for its dinner. The frog had a brilliant idea. He said to the stork. I will find where the fish are hiding and scare them in your direction if you will give me a ride in the sky. The stork agreed. After the stork had eaten his fill of fish, the frog said, “Now let me grab onto your leg with my mouth and give me a ride through the sky”. The frog and the stork flew over the mountains and hills high in the sky. It was a magnificent ride. People on the ground looked at the frog flying through the air on the stork’s leg. They shouted, “What a wonderful way for a frog to fly. Whose idea was it?” The frog was filled with pride. He shouted from high in the sky, “It was my idea – it was all my idea. It was only my idea” As soon as the frog opened his mouth, gravity hurled him to the ground where he died as he hit the rocks below. What he had said was true enough, but his need to praise himself had caused his down fall and ended his life. Pride looks for applause from others and often destroys us and the good that we do. Pride forgets all the other people who have had a role in our victories and successes and acts as if we were the center and most important factor in every situation.

When I was a student in Rome Pope John Paul was a much younger man, as was I. A group from the Minnesota came to visit. I was very happy that I was able to get them front row seats for a meeting with the Pope. The problem is that they didn’t want to go. They told me that they were tired of pope’s on thrones and all the trappings of royalty. They were good Catholics, but they didn’t want to see a royal show. I begged them to go and they did. That day there were many physically disadvantaged teenagers at the audience, sitting in the front row. When Pope John Paul saw them, he got up off his big chair, went down the steps and knelt in front of each wheel chair to talk with the young people. My friends came back from seeing the Pope singing the praises of a great leader who could kneel before the needy and open his heart to them. In their eyes he was great not only because he was leader of the Church. He was great because he could forget about himself and humble himself before the needy and the poor.

Today’s first reading says, “My child, conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.” Humility shows that we know the truth about ourselves. No matter how smart, wealthy or powerful we may be, we still share the frailty of human nature. We still are susceptible to every fault, misfortune, sin and disaster that can afflict any human being. The great St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, a contemplative sister who died in her early twenties, said that she never committed a single mortal sin in her life. She added with honesty and humility that she was capable of every sin possible, but she knew that she was saved from serious sin by the grace and mercy of God. St. Theresa prayed for a man on death row who was about to be executed for a serious crime. She prayed for him because she knew that there was something in her and in all of us that was capable of great evil. Except for the grace and goodness of God, that person in the gutter, the homeless person or the one on death row is you and me. When the man on death row asked to kiss the crucifix in the moments before his execution Theresa knew that God had heard her pray for a poor and sinful brother whom she had never met. Honestly about ourselves wins favor with God and makes us very attractive to others.

Jesus told the Pharisees a story about a dinner where all the guests were very conscious of their dignity and everyone wanted to sit in the place of honor at the head of the table. The advice of Jesus is to think humbly of yourself and to take a lower and more ordinary place at the table. Not only will the other guests love you for your humility, but the host of the party may well honor you by asking you to move up higher. Humility is a very attractive virtue in those who lead us. Taking the first place at the table with honor is something others give to us, not something we give to ourselves. The advice of Scripture is very clear. Act with humility and honesty about yourself and you will be greatly loved.

Jesus reminds us that whom we invite into our homes and whom we invite to sit at our table is an indication of how we see ourselves. He says, “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, and 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.”

Those who know the truth about themselves treat other people with kindness and humility. Others love them for it and they find favor with God. Today’s readings remind me of a familiar passage from the prophet Micah. This passage is the recipe for a grace filled life. Micah says “This is what God expects of you: To act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God”

The king of the universe comes to eat with us as a humble servant who took the last place among us by dying on the cross. His humble and tender heart makes him loveable, not only because of his power, but most of all because of his humble goodness. May our communion with Jesus in this Eucharist make us more like him in how we lead our lives. For the gift of humility and simple honesty we give God thanks and praise.