22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ah yes, humility – that all important virtue that seems to me, and maybe to others, to be the least attractive and glamorous of the virtues. Things like courage, honesty, fortitude, those are virtues I can get behind, but humility? Maybe I’ll practice it when I’m older. But what is humility really? Ultimately, it is the realization that God is God, and I am not. It is the answer and the antidote to the ultimate sin of Pride that was the downfall of Lucifer, the angel of Light. It is, maybe more than anything else, the way that we are to enter the kingdom of God. Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus talks about having to pass through the eye of a needle, in order to enter the kingdom of God.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus talks about taking the lowest seat at the table when attending a banquet. In purposely taking the lowest seat, you may be elevated by the host to a seat of higher honor. In the first reading from the Book of Sirach the author writes “Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.” So aside from being a necessary virtue to get to Heaven, humility also seems to be, paradoxically, the surest path to greatness. Not worldly greatness necessarily, but rather the spiritual greatness that makes one into a Saint.
So how to practice Humility? One surefire way is to pray for it. The simple prayer “Lord, help me to be more humble” can be a scary one because it is so effective – growing in humility can be humbling. But if we pray for humility God will surely provide opportunities to grow in that area. Another way is to pray the Litany of Humility, which doesn’t even ask for growth in humility directly, rather simply “the grace to desire it.” However, we put it into practice, the important thing is to keep the idea of humility at the forefront of our spiritual lives, as it is an essential aspect of the path of discipleship.
