Sunday the 31st of August 2025 - Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29/ Ps 68(67)/ Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a/ Luke 14:1, 7-14

In our society today, humility is often seen as a weakness. We live in an age of self-promotion, where social media gives us a platform to broadcast our accomplishments. Even charitable works are often performed with one eye on how they might appear on Instagram or Facebook. We celebrate those who are ‘famous for being famous,’ and we measure success by followers, likes, and shares. At funerals families are keen to express how much a loved one meant to them and what they achieved, but most of us are very ordinary and are destined to be forgotten by the world within one or two generations. In the quest for greatness, we can forget that it is not how well known we are, or how much we own but more about what we have given of ourselves. Except for some well-known tyrants of history, the people that are remembered most can be the humblest of people. History has seen many rich and successful people but not many are remembered for very long, they die and are forgotten, their fortunes left to others, the things they worked for turn to dust. Those that are remembered are few and some of the best known will be remembered for what they gave of themselves rather than what they amassed, people such as Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Junior. These are among the humble greats who are remembered for their lives of service.

Of course, our greatest example of humility is God himself in the person of Jesus. God The Son, who gave us the ultimate example of humility, Jesus, who ‘though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross’ (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus lived the life of a homeless itinerant teacher never writing a word and died the death of a common criminal. Only after death did Jesus enter the glory he was entitled to.

The readings today give us a radically different vision of greatness with the importance of living in humility without pride or self-glorification, a way of life that is counter cultural today. Humility will help us accept all others as children of God, our brothers and sisters, all of us offered redemption by God on an equal footing. We are called to humbly offer sacrificial love through acts of mercy, charity, and forgiveness. True humility will allow us to accept ourselves as we are before God, with all our faults and failings, being thankful to God for the blessings he has bestowed on us for ourselves, the serving of others, and to glorify God. Humility should open our eyes, ears, hearts, and minds, to the needy in our world, the poor, disadvantaged, homeless, jobless, refugees, prisoners, the sick and dying. We need to turn modern thinking around learning that we should be humble servants to others rather than seeking to be honoured by those we serve.  A useful comment accredited to C.S. Lewis defines humility as “not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.”

Words of scripture might appear quaint or outdated in our modern world, but they contain a profound truth that resonates through all of Scripture and the tradition of our faith. True greatness lies not in exalting ourselves but in humbling ourselves before God and in service to others. The Gospel passage makes this clear. Jesus, observing how guests at a banquet scrambled for places of honour, offers practical advice and spiritual wisdom: “when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher.” On first reading this might appear a way of avoiding embarrassment, but Jesus is teaching us a strategy for life, that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Saint Paul calls us to recognise the source of our true dignity, we are called to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, our true worth, our dignity, does not come from worldly recognition but from being ‘the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven’. Jesus calls us not to invite our friends and wealthy neighbours to our parties but to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. This is not about dinner parties, but how we structure our lives and communities. Do we only associate with those who can benefit us? Do we only give ourselves to those who can repay us? Or do we reach out to those on the margins, those who have no ability to offer anything in return? We are called not just to feed the poor but to invite them to our tables, the intimacy of sharing a meal transforms charity into a relationship. We can practice arm’s length charity, or we can create a community of love and compassion. As with the examples of true charitable giving of self it is not about what we achieve or accumulate in this world but what we give of ourselves, our comfort, our security, and even sometimes our lives, in the service of others.

We must acknowledge our complete dependence on God opening ourselves to His grace enabling us to live authentic lives of true service to God and others. In the Eucharist God comes to us in the humble form of bread and wine, stooping down to meet us where we are giving us the food we need for our journey through this life. We live in a world obsessed with status and recognition; may we choose a path of humble service. Let us find our worth not in the applause of others but in the quiet knowledge that we are beloved children of God. Let us reach out beyond our lives of comfort to those who cannot repay our kindness. Let us seek the humble path to true greatness, the greatness awaiting us in the heavenly kingdom.

God Bless Brendan.