Imagine this situation, if you will: a husband comes home from work on a Friday afternoon, as he drives into the driveway, he sees that there is a rented tent in the back yard. Under the tent are tables and chairs for about forty people. A bandstand and dance floor are assembled in one corner of the tent. Paper lanterns are hanging all around. Now mind you, none of this was there when the husband left for work that morning! Seeing all these preparations and having them come as a surprise, what do you think the husband might think? A first reaction from some husbands might be one of panic: "Oh no! It's our anniversary; but then he realizes that it wasn’t.
Then imagine the husband walking into the back yard to find his wife basting a dozen chickens and discovering a pile of choice steaks in a cooler nearby.
Then suppose his wife looks up, smiles sweetly and asks, "Guess who's coming to dinner?" Now his guess might have been: "Relatives, longtime friends, neighbors and business associates." But before he can respond, she answers: "I've invited twenty homeless men from the NOAH Shelter in town, a family of boat people from Haiti, and all the residents of a group home. Don't worry, dear, you won't know a soul. And best of all, not a single one is likely to ever pay us back!"1
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,…invite those with disabilities: blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
E.g. Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila in the Philippines when he was bishop of Imus, near Metro Manila, was known for inviting poor beggars outside the cathedral to come in and eat with him. One woman was quoted describing a time she went looking for her blind, out-of-work, alcoholic husband, suspecting she might track him down in a local bar, only to find that he was lunching with the bishop.2
You will never feel more like a Catholic Christian by inviting people to dinner, either at your house or at a restaurant, who are poor, crippled, lame, or blind. Of course, God’s hospitality is foremost in Christ’s institution of the celebration of the Eucharist, so inviting people to Mass or driving them to Mass is very laudable. Pope Bendict XVI says: ‘The crucified and resurrected body of Jesus thus represents the ultimate paradox’ and provides the necessity for disability. Jesus became so completely identified in his life and teaching with the lowest place, not only in the Eucharist by being disguised as the poor.
The promise is, “you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
In heaven there is no uniformity, but rather degrees of glory.
The theme of our Readings is humility, which includes recognizing that we are all equal before the eyes of God.
Daryl Van Tongeren notes that “individual psychological mechanisms that inhibit humility are also reinforced in social settings as well where we seek out membership in groups that provide self-verifying feedback.3
Humility, including cultural humility regarding race/ethnicity, and religion, is part of temperance because it is a form of moderation or restraint, which is the essence of temperance.
Humility and the virtue of magnanimity which is humility’s twin virtue, are the opposite of pride, which is a deficiency of temperance.
Paul J. Wadell shared that when he was around middle school age, his mother gave him a holy card with the words from Thomas Merton, “deliver me from pride, which is the heaviest of burdens.”
In the Lord of Rings, Samwise Gamgee's journey from what Tolkien calls "vulgar conceit" to ennobled humility serves as an exemplar of Thomistic virtue. Elsewhere Tolkien explicitly states that Sam is the “chief hero” of the work, the Lord of the Rings.4
A benefit of humility is that it reduces one’s defensiveness because it protects one from the psychological burden of being preoccupied with one’s image. E.g. The BVM concealed her spiritual prerogatives within the depth of her own soul, calling herself a handmaid of the Lord. Pride and vainglory are countered by the saints who did not want to be noticed, and they even wanted to hide themselves from themselves insofar as they want to be known only to God. The hidden life can be done by those who take pains to escape observation, as the Litany of Humility encapsulates.
Jesus says go and take the lowest place, which is very un-narcissistic, i.e. "Glory to God in the Lowest [Place]."5
Then, God will say to you: 'My friend, move up to a higher position.'
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
“Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.”
1. Alex Gondola, Entertaining Tips for Christians, Sermons. Com
2. Fr. Roger J. Landry, Wonder at God’s Inscrutable Judgments and Unsearchable Ways, 31st Monday, November 6, 2017, blog.
3. Humble: Free Yourself from the Traps of a Narcissistic World by Daryl Van Tongeren. New York, NY: The Experiment, 2022, pg. 304, in a book review by John W. Morehead Director, Evangelical Chapter of the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy and Multifaith Matters, Cultural Encounters, Wint 2022, pg. 98
4. Tolkien’s (Letters, 161). Craig A. Boyd, Nolo Heroizari: Tolkien and Aquinas on the Humble Journey of Master Samwise, Christianity and Literature, Sep 2019
5. Nathan Mitchell, The Amen Corner, Worship
