Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

HUMILITY

            Looking at the first reading and the gospel passage closely I remember an event that happened recently. I visited US for my summer vacation and on 24 July I was scheduled to return home. I went through all departure formalities but before we were meant to board we were told that we will not fly that evening but rather the following day in the afternoon. Most of us thought that the airline authorities would give us hotel accommodation but nothing of that sort was provided so some of us slept on the floor of the airport.

            I heard some of my fellow “travellers” suggesting that this can only happen to Ghanaians who are known for their meekness and humility. One of them in fact said, “how he wished he was of a certain nationality whose people are known for their intolerance and war-like attitude.” That day some people saw in the Ghanaian attitude of meekness as a vice/weakness rather than a virtue/strength. One of them asked me “man of God” what do you think? My answer was that, under no condition will I exchange my God and Ghanaian attitude of calmness and humility with cruelty and intolerance. What the authorities of the airline did wasn’t good but to me it may have been God’s will for us not to depart that night. And sleeping on the bare floor at the airport made me to understand the plight of many homeless people who sleep outside under harsh conditions. I prayed for all homeless people that night. I learnt that night how lowly life can be.

            Ben Sira the author to the book of Sirach was right when he addressed his audience with these words: “My child, conduct your affairs with humility…” Life is a gradual journey and the “laws of nature” makes us start from a lower state to probably a higher state. No one is born an adult. From the lower state of an infant, we all started life from crawling before we were able to walk; and from walking we all have arrived at different stages in life. Any parent who tries to force an infant to stand erect unsupported risks the life of his/her child. A state of lowliness should not be equated to a state of weakness or powerlessness but rather as a starting point in life.

            The wise elder in the book of Sirach is of the view that humility is God’s approved starting point in life. According to him, the greater one becomes the more it is required of the person to humble him or herself. He puts it this way in today’s first reading: “Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God…”

            The way Ben Sira presents his teaching seems to indicate that humility was central in Jewish household ethics. His message was addressed to the Jews in the diaspora who may have been tempted to embrace the prideful Hellenistic ways of life. He seems to stress to the Jewish youth in diaspora that it is divine and Jewish to be a humble person; and it is in that attitude that God blesses his people. It is also divine and Ghanaian to be humble, meek and welcoming to people.

            A similar language is employed by Jesus in today’s Gospel passage. Jesus chose a homely illustration to point to an eternal truth. If a quite undistinguished guest arrived early at a feast and annexed the top place, and if a more distinguished person then arrived, and the man who had usurped the first place was told to step down, a most embarrassing situation resulted. If, on the other hand, a man deliberately slipped into the bottom place, and was then asked to occupy a more distinguished place, his humility gained him all the more honor. Humility has always been one of the characteristics of the truly great. There are many stories and legends of the humility of St. Francis of Assisi and St Mother Teresa of Calcutta. We need to learn humility from some of these heroes of our Catholic faith.

            Let us not be prideful because of our material possessions, nationality or bodily features; because all these are vanity in the eyes of God. At all times we should learn to be humble and lowly. OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP PRAY FOR US.