Do Not Take the First Place as You May be Asked to Take the Last

Father Raniero Cantalamessa Comments on This Sunday's Gospel

ROME, AUG. 30, 2004 (Catholic Online - Zenit) - Here is the commentary by Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher for the Pontifical Household, of the Gospel passage for this Sunday's liturgy, Luke 14:1,7-14, on the effect of true humility.

* * *

One Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees.... he marked how they chose the place of honor, saying to them, "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." He said also to the man who had invited him, "when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, 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."

The beginning of today's Gospel helps us to correct a widespread prejudice among Christians. The Pharisees have ended up being the prototype of all vices: hypocrisy, duplicity, falsehood--Jesus' enemies par excellence. The word Pharisee and pharisaic have entered the vocabulary of our tongue and of many others. Such an idea of the Pharisees is not right. Among them there certainly were many elements that fit this image, and it is with them that Christ clashed severely. But not all were like that. Nicodemus, who went to Jesus by night and later defended him in the Sanhedrin, was a Pharisee (see John 3:1, 7:50). Paul was also a Pharisee before his conversion, and he was certainly a sincere and diligent person, though unenlightened. Gamaliel was a Pharisee, who defended the Apostles before the Sanhedrin (see Acts 5:34).

Jesus' relations with them, therefore, were not only conflictive. Some, as in our case, also invited him to dine in their homes. These invitations from Pharisees are that much more worthy of being highlighted given that they knew very well that it would not be the fact of inviting him to their own homes that would impede Jesus from saying what he thought. Also in our case, Jesus takes advantage of the occasion to correct some deviations and carry forward his work of evangelization. During the dinner that Saturday, Jesus gave two important teachings: one addressed to the guests, and the other to the host.

To the lord of the house, Jesus said: "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors ..." This is what Jesus himself did, when he invited the poor, the afflicted, the meek, the hungry, and the persecuted (the categories of people mentioned in the Beatitudes) to the great banquet of the kingdom.

But it is especially what Jesus said to the guests that I would like to reflect on this time. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor...." Jesus does not intend to give advice on good manners. Neither does he try to encourage the subtle calculation of the one who takes the last place, with the secret hope that the host will call him to a higher one. The parable could lead to deception here, if one does not think of which banquet and which host Jesus was talking about.

The banquet is the most universal of the kingdom, and the lord is God. Jesus was saying that in life we must choose the last place, try to make others happy more than ourselves; be modest in assessing our merits, letting others recognize them, not ourselves ("no one is a good judge in his own case"), and already in this life God will exalt us. He will exalt us in his grace, he will include us in the list of his friends and of the true disciples of his Son, which is the only thing that really matters.

He will also exalt us in the esteem of others. It is an amazing but true fact. It is not only God who "regards the lowly; but the haughty he knows from afar" (Psalm 137:6); man does this too, whether or not he is a believer. Modesty, when it is sincere and not affected, captivates, makes the person loved, his company desired, his opinion appreciated. True glory flees from the one who pursues it and pursues the one who flees it.

We live in a society that has an acute need to heed this evangelical message on humility. To hasten to take the first places, perhaps unscrupulously stepping on others, social climbing and exasperated competitiveness are characteristics demanded by all and, sadly, followed by all. The Gospel makes an impact on the social, even when it speaks of humility and modesty.

Contact

Catholic Online
https://www.catholic.org CA, US
Catholic Online - Publisher, 661 869-1000

Email

info@yourcatholicvoice.org

Keywords

Gospel, Liturgy, Vatican, Humility, Modesty

More Catholic PRWire

Showing 1 - 50 of 4,716

• « Prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Next »

A Recession Antidote
Randy Hain

Monaco & The Vatican: Monaco's Grace Kelly Exhibit to Rome--A Review of Monegasque-Holy See Diplomatic History
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.

The Why of Jesus' Death: A Pauline Perspective
Jerom Paul

A Royal Betrayal: Catholic Monaco Liberalizes Abortion
Dna. Maria St.Catherine De Grace Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.

Embrace every moment as sacred time
Mary Regina Morrell

My Dad
JoMarie Grinkiewicz

Letting go is simple wisdom with divine potential
Mary Regina Morrell

Father Lombardi's Address on Catholic Media
Catholic Online

Pope's Words to Pontifical Latin American College
Catholic Online

Prelate: Genetics Needs a Conscience
Catholic Online

State Aid for Catholic Schools: Help or Hindrance?
Catholic Online

Scorsese Planning Movie on Japanese Martyrs
Catholic Online

2 Nuns Kidnapped in Kenya Set Free
Catholic Online

Holy See-Israel Negotiation Moves Forward
Catholic Online

Franchising to Evangelize
Catholic Online

Catholics Decry Anti-Christianity in Israel
Catholic Online

Pope and Gordon Brown Meet About Development Aid
Catholic Online

Pontiff Backs Latin America's Continental Mission
Catholic Online

Cardinal Warns Against Anti-Catholic Education
Catholic Online

Full Circle
Robert Gieb

Three words to a deeper faith
Paul Sposite

Relections for Lent 2009
chris anthony

Wisdom lies beyond the surface of life
Mary Regina Morrell

World Food Program Director on Lent
Catholic Online

Moral Clarity
DAN SHEA

Pope's Lenten Message for 2009
Catholic Online

A Prayer for Monaco: Remembering the Faith Legacy of Prince Rainier III & Princess Grace and Contemplating the Moral Challenges of Prince Albert II
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe

Keeping a Lid on Permissiveness
Sally Connolly

Glimpse of Me
Sarah Reinhard

The 3 stages of life
Michele Szekely

Sex and the Married Woman
Cheryl Dickow

A Catholic Woman Returns to the Church
Cheryl Dickow

Modernity & Morality
Dan Shea

Just a Minute
Sarah Reinhard

Catholic identity ... triumphant reemergence!
Hugh McNichol

Edging God Out
Paul Sposite

Burying a St. Joseph Statue
Cheryl Dickow

George Bush Speaks on Papal Visit
Catholic Online

Sometimes moving forward means moving the canoe
Mary Regina Morrell

Action Changes Things: Teaching our Kids about Community Service
Lisa Hendey

Easter... A Way of Life
Paul Spoisite

Papal initiative...peace and harmony!
Hugh McNichol

Proclaim the mysteries of the Resurrection!
Hugh McNichol

Jerusalem Patriarch's Easter Message
Catholic Online

Good Friday Sermon of Father Cantalamessa
Catholic Online

Papal Address at the End of the Way of the Cross
Catholic Online

Cardinal Zen's Meditations for Via Crucis
Catholic Online

Interview With Vatican Aide on Jewish-Catholic Relations
Catholic Online

Pope Benedict XVI On the Easter Triduum
Catholic Online

Holy Saturday...anticipation!
Hugh McNichol

• « Prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Next »