REFLECTION FOR TODAY,
October 31, 2020
By Fr. Andrew Ibegbulem, OSA
“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.” Luke 14:8-9
Jesus tells a parable of a wedding banquet, pointing out the concerns over the place of honor at the table. He says, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. He used this parable as a way to highlight to the Pharisees the pride and the danger of living in such a prideful way.
We can never examine our consciences often enough concerning pride. Pride is referred to as the “Mother of all sins” for a reason. Pride leads to every other sin and, in many ways, is the source of all sin. Therefore, if we want to strive for perfection in life, we should seek true humility on a daily basis. For St. Augustine once said “humility is the greatest virtue in the Christian life.”
Humility is nothing other than seeing things as they are. A humble person sees him/herself in the truth of God. This can be hard to do because it requires that we see ourselves as weak and dependent upon God. We may be able to accomplish many worldly things through our own strength and hard work. But we cannot achieve happiness and goodness unless we open ourselves to the truth of our weaknesses and dependence upon God for all things.
Humility also helps to purify our hearts of something that is very hard to let go of. Pride causes us to deeply seek out the esteem of others and to be dependent upon that esteem for our happiness. That’s a dangerous road to go down because it leaves us constantly dependent upon the opinions of others. And far too often, the opinions of others are based on false and superficial criteria.
Reflect, today, upon how free you are from the misleading and false opinions of others. Sure, you need to regularly seek out advice from those you know and love. But you must allow yourself only to be dependent upon God and His Truth. When you do that, you will be well down the road of true humility.
Lord, please make me humble. Strip away all pride in my life so that I can turn to You and Your will alone. Help me to have concern only for the Truth that You establish and to use that as the only measure of my soul. Jesus, I trust in You.