Humility, A Path to Heaven
august 31, 2025 | 22nd Sunday in ordinary time, Year C
Sirach 3: 17-18, 20, 28-29; Psalm 68; Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a; Luke 14: 1, 7-14
Today’s liturgy is a good time to check our hearts and our motivations. Are we motivated by pride or are we seeking to impress others like the Pharisees? Jesus, using the imagery of meals and social interactions teaches us that kindness and humility are the true paths to true greatness and happiness.
Humility as an attitude
Today’s first reading begins with, “My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts” (Sirach 3:17). C. S. Lewis once said that, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." It means seeing yourself for who you truly are. This is very important for our daily lives because humility is the art of being able to make “a right estimate of yourself” as Charles H. Spurgeon stated. Although St. Paul teaches that the greatest virtue is charity, we cannot make it to heaven without humility. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that prudence is the most important virtue because it helps us apply all the other virtues wisely. But there is no wisdom without humility. Only a fool thinks he is wise, while a wise man knows he is a fool. St. Augustine makes it clear that, "Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying."
Humility as a solid foundation of our relationships
The Catechism teaches that humility is the foundation of prayer (CCC 2559), which means before we can have a relationship with God, we must be humble. This applies in our relationship with others. We love to be around humble people. Confucius once said that, “Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.” Humility is very important. We can be weak in every other virtue but if we have humility we can be saved because we know that we need God’s mercy. But if we lack humility, even if we are strong in every other virtue, we will be lost because of our pride. St. Vincent de Paul tells us that, “The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.”
How to acquire humility?
As we stated above, humility means being honest with yourself, this will imply that, in our real life, we should learn to see ourselves for who we truly are. This can be very difficult to do. But let’s always remember that, we are nothing without God’s life in us. (Gen 2:7). So, gratitude is one way to acquire humility. We do not think less of ourselves, but rather we think of ourselves less.
The second important trick is to recognize our strengths as gifts given to us by God, which are meant to be used for God’s purposes. If you are a good speaker, a good athlete, a good musician, a good listener, a good artist, a good gardener, it’s not prideful to admit that you are good at these things. It is prideful to think that these gifts and talents make you better or more important than anyone else. It is prideful to think that these gifts come from yourself and should be used selfishly for your own interests. Third, Humility also means recognizing your weaknesses, either as areas of your life to be worked on, if it’s something that can be improved, or accepted as a cross if it’s not. Your weaknesses are occasions to rely on God for help, but they do not make you worse or less deserving than anyone else. Thinking your weaknesses make you special is just as prideful as thinking your strengths make you special. What makes you special is God and God’s love for you. God gave you certain strengths and certain weaknesses and the humble person accepts them both equally not counting either as his own merit. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Empty me of my pride and arrogance!
Jesus, I trust in you!
Fr. Georges Roger Bidzogo sac
Living the Gospel this week. Humility Prayer
On this 22nd Sunday in ordinary Time year C, we focus on Humility as a path to greatness. Pray this week asking God, the grace to let go of your need to be admired and the center of attention in everything. Dear friends, by experience, I know it is hard to put God first when we are focused on ourselves. So this week, by the power of the Holy Spirit, pray and ask for God to help you get rid of the self-centeredness which gets in the way of discipleship. By asking God to help us be humble, we can better follow Jesus and live more generously and compassionately.
Theresa of Avila speaking of humility wrote: “Humility ‘persuades the Lord to give us all what we want from him’; humility ‘conquers everything’; humility is truth; it is only through the growth in humility that we measure our progress in spiritual life.” (Way of Perfection 16:1-2)
Jesus, I trust in you