In this weekend’s passage from the Holy Gospel, Jesus is out having dinner at the home of one of the Pharisees. Just like what can often happen at our holiday table, people are “jockeying for the best seat in the house.” You know how it goes…some people like to be at the head of the table, some people want to be next to Grandma, some people want to be in a seat where they can eat quickly and then get out easily to get back to the football game on TV! In the case of Jesus’ story, the seats at the top of the table were considered “seats of honor,” and it looks like several people wanted to grab those seats because they thought they were pretty important. Hmmmm! What really makes us important? This passage of the Holy Gospel gives us a lesson on humility. Humility is one of those words that is very often misunderstood. It does not mean that we should think less of ourselves and consider ourselves a doormat for everyone to walk on because we are “unworthy.” Humility is knowing and accepting the truth about ourselves. Each of us has faults (no doubt!), but we also have God-given gifts…gifts that the Lord expects us to use in building the Kingdom of God. AND…no one else in the world has these gifts as we do. Each of us is unique in the eyes of God. The common theme of all of today’s readings is the need for true humility and the blessedness of generous sharing of our gifts with those who could use them. The readings also warn us against all forms of pride and self-aggrandizement. They present humility, not only as a virtue, but also as a means of opening our hearts, our minds and our hands to the needs of our fellow man. This is the personal responsibility of every authentic Christian. You know that Mother Teresa is one of my idols. She teaches us a wonderful lesson on the meaning of humility in this quote of hers: "If I try to make myself as small as I can, I'll never become humble. It is humility with a hook. True humility is truth. Humility comes when I stand as tall as I can, and look at all of my strengths, and the reality about me, but put myself alongside Jesus Christ. And it's there, when I humble myself before Him, and realize the truth of who he is, when I accept God's estimate of myself, stop being fooled about myself and impressed with myself, that I begin to learn humility. The higher I am in grace, the lower I should be in my own estimation because I am comparing myself with the Lord God." Thus humility is an attempt to see ourselves as God sees us. It is also the acknowledgement that our talents come from God who has seen it fit to work through us. Well put, Mother Teresa! Most Rev. Paul-Émile Léger served as Archbishop of Montreal from 1950 to 1968, and was elevated to a cardinal in 1953 by Pope Pius XII. He was one of the most powerful men in Canada and within the Catholic Church. He was a man of deep conviction and humility. Then on April 20, 1968 he resigned and laid aside his red vestments, crosier, miter, and pallium in his office at Montreal and disappeared. Years later he was found living among the lepers and disabled, outcasts of a small African village. When a Canadian journalist asked him, "Why?," here is what Cardinal Léger had to say, "It will be the great scandal of the history of our century that 600 million people are eating well and living luxuriously and three billion people starve, and every year millions of children are dying of hunger. I am too old to change all that. The only thing I can do which makes sense is to be present. I must simply be in the midst of them. So, just tell people in Canada that you met an old priest. I am a priest who is happy to be old and still a priest and among those who suffer. I am happy to be here and to take them into my heart." Wow! What a lesson on humility! GOSPEL QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What do you really think of yourself in the deepest recesses of your heart?