Humility: The True Identity of a Christian

08-31-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Albert

Jesus' parable about how the guests might strategize to jockey themselves into more prestigious seats is nothing short of comedy. Rather than speak directly about humility, Jesus creates a slightly outrageous story/parable to make his point. Humility is having accurate knowledge of ourselves and accepting ourselves. In the parable, Jesus looks at motives. humility is elusive, it is a slippery fish. in claiming that we have it, we lose it to pride. He challenges his host, the guests, and us to become humble.

Jesus' words; ''For all who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted'' cannot be ignored. In the second part of this episode, Jesus turns his attention away from being a good guest to being a good host. If we invite those who cannot reciprocate, we trade off dining with the somewhat rich and famous now for dining later at the banquet of the just in heaven. Throughout His ministry, Jesus judged the least, the lost and the forgotten as those most worthy of the kingdom of God. W

hat are we to do to steer between the rock of a prideful attitude. The unitive consciousness is balance, is reality. The humble gifted soprano does not deny the truth of her ability, nor does a good and humble athlete speak as if he is inept. we need simply to acknowledge our giftedness but not get carried away with ourselves. we try to think no more highly or lowly of ourselves than what is true. When complimented for an accomplishment, we simply say '' thank you'. this acknowledges the truth as someone sees it, neither allowing our heads to swell, nor groveling that we are unworthy of compliment.

The humble have no problem recognizing their dependence on God and others. They acknowledge their own shortcomings and forgive the shortfall in others. Because they are not pretentious, the humble can rub elbows with the world's ''nobodies'' and the real ''somebodies'' and be grateful for the good company of both. God loves the humble because God is humble. The humble is blessed with the power of overcoming pride. whereas the proud do not value and power the individuals. The humble don't look down upon others because they understand and acknowledge that their own status in life is a free gift of God not of their achievement. The proud reject God and refuse to cooperate with Him.

Jesus invites us to choose Humility which alone gives true identity. That is the identity of the Christianity. Let us choose to remain humble and gain the blessings of God.