Parable of the first places

Jesus was having a meal with his apostles. We see often Jesus in the Gospels sitting at the table. It is important to spend time with others, and meals are great occasions to do so. People nowadays spend their time with their phones, just watching screens. These were moments when Jesus took advantage to pass on to them his message; he used these opportunities to teach them a lesson, in this instance, humility. Jesus was very observant, as holy people are, not self-centered, but completely aware of other people’s needs. It is important to have the right open attitude to look and to listen, to be able to help others when they need it. Self-centred people are hardly able to be of use to others because of their own selfishness.

Jesus noticed that people were choosing the best places at the table and related this parable. It was a practical lesson, where his apostles could see exactly what he was trying to teach them. It is a normal thing to try to pick out the best places when you watch a movie, attend a sport match or listen to a music concert. Beneath this attitude there is our constant pride, that we cannot get rid of. They say that pride dies twenty four hours after we die. The first sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, was pride: they placed themselves before God. If you think you are humble, it means that you are proud, and the opposite. But better we don’t become complicated.

In the good old days when you read those beautiful books on Moral Theology, the spiritual authors used to describe the spiritual edifice, how our relationship with God could be drawn on a piece of paper. Each one of them had their own theories, where to place the three doors of faith, hope and charity; the windows of the four cardinal virtues, the rooms of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and so on. But all of them agreed about the foundations of the building: humility. Without this virtue, the whole relationship with God, our spiritual structure, sooner or later, will crumble and collapse.

We need to acknowledge that we are proud, that we normally place ourselves before God and others. It is not easy to acknowledge our nothingness. The best way is to compare ourselves with God: He is everything and we are nothing. Everything good we have comes from him. We only have our good desires and our sins. If we see God as a father, it is easier to see ourselves as little children.

A young man went to a holy man and asked him how to be humble: “Find somebody lower than yourself and do something for him.” He went and found a beggar and invited him for a meal. He felt good and went back to the holy man: “Am I humble now?” “No, find another man lower than yourself and do something for him again.” The young man got upset and asked: “How many times do I have to do it? 100 times?” “Till you don’t find anybody lower than yourself.” Somebody said that Jesus took the last place on earth and nobody can take it from him. He died on the wood of the cross, a place reserved for criminals. If we want to be closer to Jesus, we need to keep lowering ourselves. The lower we go the closer we become to him. I like very much a description of the Virgin Mary by Bishop Alvaro: “Convinced of her littleness, nothing distracts her from God.” If somebody could be proud is her. God bestowed on her as many virtues and privileges that a human being can hold. People with many talents normally sit on a pedestal, high up, above us, and they look down on us. Our Mother, on the contrary, is so accessible, so motherly, ready to give us a hand. Nothing separates her from God.

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