Welcome to Finding God in Our Hearts. The following production Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a weekly program of deep spiritual insight on Scripture, revealing the indwelling presence of God. Monsignor Fisher is a Catholic priest, a member of the Diocese of Dallas, and founder of the Pastoral Reflections Institute, a nonprofit in Dallas, Texas, dedicated to to enriching your spiritual journey. We appreciate your listenership and if you find this program valuable, please subscribe and share with your friends. This program is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you. Make your donation@pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com Good morning.

Today we celebrate the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. The opening prayer God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that by deepening our sense of reverence you may nurture in us what is good and by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. A Reading from the Old Testament from the book of Sirach 3:17 My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than the giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more the greater you are, and you will find favor with God what is too sublime for you. Seek not into things beyond your strength.

Search not. The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs, and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise. Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms atone for sin. The Word of the Lord Responsorial Psalm God, in your goodness you have made a home for the poor. A reading from the New Testament from the Letter to the Hebrews, 12th chapter, 18th and 19th verse and the 22nd, 24th verse brothers and sisters, you have not approached that which could be touched and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness, and a storm and trumpet blasts, and a voice speaking words that those who heard them begged that no message be further addressed to them. No.

You’ve approached Mount Zion in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and the God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect and Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant, and a sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel. The word of the Lord take my yoke upon you, says the Lord, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. The Gospel for this Sunday is taken from St. Luke, 14th chapter, first verse. In the seventh, 14th verse. On a Sabbath, Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully.

He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him. And the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, give your place to this man. And then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place, so that when the host comes to you, he may say, 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. The one who humbles himself will be exalted. Then he said to the host who invited him, when you hold a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. Blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.

You will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous. The Gospel of the Lord and I want to begin my thoughts with the second reading from Hebrews, because it seems to me that this author is trying to put us in touch with one of the great mysteries of what it means to be a spiritual person, a person engaged in a religion whose goal, as all religions have the same goal, of putting us in touch with God, which is the truth, be connected to the truth of who God is, who we are. And then to do that union or to celebrate that union has been described over and over again in Scripture as not an examination, a final exam or a test, but rather a celebration, a wedding celebration. People gather together, excited, enthusiastic about the union of two people. The union that God is calling us into is a union with God, with ourselves, and with each other. Connection, major, major part of everything that religion is trying to help us to accomplish.

So in this reading from Hebrews, we see a contrast. It says the author is saying, you know, you’re not being called by your faith into a place where there’s either this incredible high goal of perfection, this blazing fire of goodness, or a place where you’re shown that there’s this dark, dark, deep abyss that you can fall into. You’re not called to a place where somebody’s yelling at you all the time. And the more you hear the voice, the more you say, I just wish it would shut up. That’s not what we’re called to. That’s not religion.

And then there’s the description we’re called to a celebration, a festival. And the image in this particular passage is so fascinating to me because when it’s listing who’s there, it’s we are there. But then it’s not we alone. It’s not just us here on this earth, but that we’re gathered together in any kind of experience of the spiritual world and in company with this great group of people who are higher, I should say, maybe, in terms of their capacity to be in touch with the truth and reality. But it’s festival angels. It’s all the angels, all those beings that God has created.

We’re surrounded by them every moment of every day. And then there are those who are being transformed in the place of continued growth after death. So we have those people who are struggling to grow and become. And they’re part of us, and they’re watching us and our struggles, and they’re there to support us. And then we have just this great sense that we’re part of a group of people that have made it, that are on the other side. And so it’s like, if you could imagine, it’s like you’re not just with a group of people who are struggling and frightened of whether they’re going to make it or not.

And it’s kind of this deep, dark, serious place. Or is it a place where we’re surrounded by those who have succeeded and they’re cheering us on? It’s a great image of what it means to be engaged in a spiritual world that cannot be touched, meaning it can’t be seen in the way we see the material world, but it’s no less real. So we’re living in an environment of a whole bunch of beings that are excited, celebrating and saying, come on, come on, come on. I’m going to teach, I’m going to help you. You’re on the journey.

Come on, come on. I love that image. One of the things that the first reading in the gospel, and they’re always designed to work together, is focused on today is the whole image of humility. And humility is a very interesting image because it implies that we should think less of ourselves than we tend to. So it’s a sort of the opposite of pride. We should think not.

We should almost. Well, the misconception is that a humble person is a person who does not ever think that they’re that valuable. That’s the oversimplified version. Because a prideful person is somebody who thinks they’re just the best thing that ever came along. And so the point is that neither one, neither extreme is right. And there’s a lot said today about binary thinking, which is the kind of thinking that most of us grew up with in the church and religion, where everything is either or.

Either it’s good or it’s bad, it’s healthy, or it’s unhealthy. And we want to categorize things and judge things. And yet so often I think that people sometimes think that wisdom is the capacity to judge everything by putting everything in nice, neat categories. And yet that whole notion of thou shalt not judge is. We tend to think it’s just about don’t think something bad about your neighbor. But really, no judgment means stop trying to figure everything out and stop labeling everything.

So in the first reading, it’s clear that the book of wisdom is trying to say to all of us, look, anybody who basically is trying to build themselves up, you have to be really careful of that. Because the more you do that, you’re just going to be cast down. And those who are cast down, you’ve got to be careful. And if you cast yourself down, you’ll be lifted up. So there’s. That’s in both the gospel and the theme is in both the gospel and the first reading.

So how are we to understand all this? When I go back and forth, I don’t know if you’re like me, but I can be thinking about myself and something can go wrong, and somebody can be upset with me, and they can say some things to me that are painful. And I can go into what I call shame. There’s nothing more debilitating than shame. It’s the darkest, gloomiest place. Because there’s something in shame that implies that not only did I not do the right thing, but there’s something intrinsically evil wrong about me, and I’ve somehow missed the point and failed.

And it’s really dark. It’s the lowest form of consciousness to be caught in shame. It almost seems that when you have an oversimplified understanding of humility, it’s almost saying, like, well, what God wants us to do is to shame ourselves, to tell ourselves that we’re no good. Whenever we happen to start acting in a way that is not real or true. And we think of ourselves as better than we are. But how do you or how do I make this balance happen?

I mean, it just seems like it’s a constant fluid kind of thing that’s going on. And that gets me to what I really am trying to get across to you and to my heart today is that what is it that we’re really up to when we’re striving to become who God wants us to be? How do we do this? I know people who say, well, I know how to do it. I’ll just tell. I think of myself as valueless and no good, and I’m just no good person.

I’m a sinner and I just hope for God’s mercy, just wallow in my broken humanness. And other people just thinking, no, God wants me to just get myself together and I have a strong will and a strong mind and I’m going to put everything in order. Not only my life, my drawers, in my house, going to live this beautiful kind of pure life where everything has order and everything is beautiful. Well, neither one of those works. And so what are we left with? Well, let’s look at the wisdom of this incredible, fascinating figure, Jesus.

He’s walking into a party and he’s watching the Pharisees, who were certainly the ones that he was most focused on trying to heal and trying to transform. And I love the way the story starts. Everybody’s watching him, and the truth is, no, he’s really watching them. He’s paying really close attention. I love this part of Jesus as a fully developed human being that he pays attention to what’s really going on. Do you know how few people or how often we don’t really pay attention to what’s going on?

We’re living in a kind of way of seeing things that we see what we want to see, we hear what we want to see, or we won’t look at things that are not attractive in ourselves or someone that we love. It’s like really a gift to be able to pay attention, to be awake, alert, conscious. What a gift. What a gift. So Jesus is very conscious of what’s going on. So he’s watching these people and he sees them and he’s not filled with judgment against them because they all really would like to be in the place of honor.

One of the shadows of being in any position of authority is that what slips in is a thing that we might call greed. And if it feels good to be in a position of authority and be over people, then maybe it feels even better to be the best of those who are over people. So greed gets in, and we fall into that trap of thinking, if one thing makes us happy, then more of that same thing will make us happier. So these guys are all looking for the right, the moment to get the highest seat in the room. And you might think that Jesus would say, all right, you guys are a bunch of hypocrites. Stop doing this.

Everybody should go and sit in the back. And nobody should ever, ever want to sit in a place of honor. It’s wrong. He doesn’t say that with a kind of loving, amazing capacity to be sympathetic and understanding. He looks at him, he says, well, I know what you’re. When you’re trying to get the place of honor so people will see you and think you’re really terrific.

And Jesus said, there’s nothing really wrong with you wanting other people to see you as someone who is good and valuable. That’s healthy. So he says, here’s my suggestion. I think it’s so interesting. You want to look good, right? Okay, so here’s the plan.

Don’t take the place of honor. That may not quite fit you. You may be needing to be a little below that. So let’s say anytime you are a inflated about your importance, be careful. Because if you’re acting in an inflated way, someone, something is going to come along and expose you. And then you look like a kind of jerk.

So here’s the deal. Pick the lower place, and then your host comes in and sees you in the lower place, and the room is filled. And then they say, oh, hey, come over here. You belong up here with me at the main table. And everybody’s going to be impressed and you’ll impress people. It’s almost like he’s saying, all right, you want to be important?

I’ll show you how to be important. You’re not important because you choose to be there. You’re important because of who you are. And everyone has a right to the place. That is the place for them, their place. And that’s determined not by you, but by someone else, by objectivity, by truth.

So, you know, it’s like you have a place of honor. Everyone has a place of honor. Everyone has a role in this incredible thing called our life. And the important thing is not so much to go around saying, I have no role, I have no importance. No, it’s to be in the place where you were meant to be and to feel the importance of it, but not to be in competition or want to be better or more important than someone else. And then the second part is more Interesting to me.

Then he kind of shifts it and he says, you know, this is a great dinner party, and it’s honoring all these people, and everybody that’s here is probably looking forward to this event. And then they may feel obligated that they have to do something in return. Or maybe they feel that now that they’re at this party, this is going to be a way to increase their awareness and more people are going to be paying attention to them. And so, you know, they’re doing it not just to be at a party where they have their own place, but they’re in it for what they’re going to get out of it. And so Jesus blows them away by saying, you know, and I love parables. Remember, this is not advice.

Neither one of these stories are advice. They’re parables, which means they’re mysterious sayings that you have to ponder and wonder about. For Jesus in a parable to say something that makes no logical sense and goes counter to almost everything that’s instinctual in us is not unusual at all. So he’s saying, when you have a party, say next Thanksgiving, next Christmas, don’t invite your family, ignore your children, ignore everybody. They’ve always come, but don’t invite them. Go to some other part of town where there are people that are really alone and they don’t really see much, they don’t understand much, they can’t really get well.

They’re blind, they’re lame, they’re crippled, they’re deaf. There are people that are really in need. Go and invite them, because then you will get a reward. Notice again, don’t do it for reward. And Jesus said, but I will tell you how you can do it for reward. And the reward you will get in this is that somehow you will know that you are doing the right thing.

And there is a great gift in that. And somehow you are engaged in the real work. And what is the real work? You take your position of authority. You take the role that God has given. You could be friend, brother, sister, teacher, anything.

Whatever you’re doing, think about that as the place where you then do the work that is the most gratifying and that is in your position. Try to be a source of life, hope, wisdom, guidance to those that don’t really see, those that don’t yet really hear, those that don’t really have the capacity to get around, those who can get around a little bit, but not very well. The lame. It’s like, this is what it’s all about. Finding the place where you belong, feeling good about that place. But in that place, you’re there not to be served and not to be looked up to as someone important.

But it’s the place from which you feed. You feed. I know I’ve been to a lot of dinner parties and a lot of celebrations, and there’s two things that I’ve noticed about them. One is if I’m the host and I’m putting it together in my house and I love the people that are there and I’ve cooked the food for them and I’m watching them enjoy it and I’m watching them enjoy each other. There’s a kind of special, special joy in that kind of experience of knowing that somehow in this event, there’s something really positive flowing around the table, radiating from the chest of the people there. And people are getting something that they long for and you’re helping make that happen.

It’s not happening because you are doing it, but you’re sort of creating the context. Awesome feeling. Awesome. Satisfying. I go to parties and it’s also wonderful to be there and to have that same experience. But I think we’re often in both places.

We’re often in the place where we’re receiving. We’re often the place when we’re feeding and giving. And that’s the two places that we want to bother. Both places need to feel comfortable because we know our place and because we know our work. And those are the things that I believe Jesus was so concerned about in the life of the Pharisees, so concerned about in our lives. I want you to be proud of who you are.

I want you to be satisfied and fed by what you do. And just stay in the party, stay in the festival gatherings, stay with all these incredible figures around you and then begin to delight in the most amazing process. And it’s just called being fully alive. Closing Prayer Father, help us to understand the way in which you long for us to be engaged in this world that you have invited us into. Help us to feel the celebratory dimension of what it’s like to be on this journey of self discovery, discovering who you are, and be engaged more and more in a process of being a source of life. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen. The music in our program was composed and produced by Ryan Harner for this show, Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher. A listener supported program is archived and available on our website pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com and available anytime, anywhere and for free on our podcast, Finding God in Our Hearts. You can search and subscribe to Finding God in Our Hearts anywhere you download your podcasts. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you. You can make a one time or or recurring tax deductible donation on our website pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com we thank you for your listenership and your continued support.

Without it, this program would not be possible. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a production of the Pastoral Reflections Institute, a NonProfit in Dallas, Texas dedicated to enriching your spiritual journey. Executive Producer Monsignor Don Fisher Produced by Kyle Cross and recorded in Pastoral Reflections Institute Studios. Copyright 2020.