HUMILITY VS. “WHAT’S BEST FOR ME NOW”

“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.
What is too sublime for you, seek not,
into things beyond your strength search not.” Sirach 3:11-18, 21

“Jesus, dining at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
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.
. . . When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends, relatives or wealthy neighbors.
Rather, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.’” Luke 14:1, 7-14

While these two readings encourage us to actions depicting interior humility, their Scripture text rationales, “and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts” and you won’t have to “proceed with embarrassment to the lowest place” do not sit well with “my” still-evolving “image” of Jesus. But Sirach’s and Luke’s words may be directed toward us, often Pharisee-like people: stuck in a mode of viewing things from the perspective of “what’s best for me now?” and using our God-given power (free will) to choose accordingly.

But Jesus did not choose in this manner. He had the divine power to change the hearts of the Pharisees, but His choice seems to have been to send grace their way in language that they would understand. Why? Perhaps because they were not yet ready to surrender, as He was surrendering, to the humility of our God who “in his goodness, makes a home for us, the poor” (Psalm 68.11) who haven’t gotten past the “what’s best for me” mode of making choices.

 WHEN ARE WE READY TO MAKE A HOME FOR US – AND FOR EACH OTHER?

These Scripture stories acknowledge that we have a tendency to make choices from a personal perspective, whereas God, a Trinity, a communion of persons, makes choices from a communal perspective. Here is a human situation which, in my mind, reveals the difference.

For the past fifteen year or so I have been attending our weekday Noon Mass for which there are no assigned Eucharistic ministers. When it was time for the Ministers to come forward, the usually more-than-needed Ministers present would, beginning with the one closest to the front, either assume the honor or look at another minister and call that Minister to serve. It was more of a communal ritual than a personal choice. It was a privilege and a blessing for me to participate in this ritual. I can attest to the present rewards (graces accepted) of this humility-centered communal ritual over other ways of making choices.

I recommend that each of us look at the choices we make in our every day lives and see if any of these choices can be changed from choosing what works best for us personally now to what reveals that we are doing what makes ourselves and those around us more of the communion of persons that God is gracing us to be.

Sister Loretta

PS. Suggestion:  Add a reflection on your day’s choices to your daily examen. (See St. Michael’s Lenten Emails for March 15 and March 17.  Fr. Michael Sweeney OP’s videos are still mentioned to me by parishioners who used them, as, since their 2019 first viewings, helping them develop their daily examen. Such an examen can be a real game-changer in one’s live and one’s relationships with God and others, and also a better understanding of oneself!)