what really is humility!
In your eyes I might be a deprived celibate: I am a priest, I have no wife, no children to cuddle, no grand children to look forward to, no one to personally care for me during my retirement. In a lot of ways and in a lot of things too common for you and probably things you take for granted, I am deprived. But, this I would insist strongly, my priesthood may have deprived me with a lot of things but not everything. Take for example my presence in Tabuc Suba Ilaya yesterday for lunch. I came late. The people were already finishing lunch and when somebody asked if I have eaten and when I replied not yet, everything became almost automatic.
People who were eating at the table immediately cleared the table, and even before I could turn around my neck to look for a chair, I was already seated. I didn’t even have to go to the buffet table, the buffet table came to me, and so did the plate, the spoon, the fork and a bottle of pepsi, two bottles in fact. And you dare call me deprived? This noon I am going again to Brgy. Benedicto for lunch for their fiesta, if you want sumptuous fiesta lunch minus the hustle, you may want to go with me. I am getting used to this treatment but sadly only in Jaro. In other places I have to line up like all the rest and when the line is quiet long, and the stomach is already complaining I get to desire the better treatment I receive in Jaro. That desire is called the feeling of entitlement. I get to feel that I deserve better treatment. I get to feel that deserve to be served, to be given a better seat, to be ushered in without a hustle, to be accorded special honors and treatment. The feeling that you are entitled to something because of who you are, because of what you do, maybe because of what you did, and perhaps because of what you own. You feel you are entitled to something better, something you can demand because you earned, you merited it, you deserve it. Most often this is not expressed as we find it too rude to do so, but it can be there as a feeling. It is called the feeling of entitlement.
This is what Jesus confronts among the dinner guests. They were scrambling for the best place, the place they thought they deserved to be because of their rank, position, power and probably by reason of their intimacy to the host. Jesus used this mad scramble for the best place, for the deserved place, for entitlement, Jesus used this to teach a very important lesson in Christian life - the lesson in humility.
What is humility? Sometimes the best way to learn something is to study its opposite, its negative nuance. The opposite of humility is pride. But nowadays the word pride is used in a lot of ways, some of which may not be that negative - pride for being a Filipino for example - this is something positive. For me the more common and therefore the more specific term, and therefore the more understandable term opposed to humility is actually a phrase. What is that phrase - one who thinks too highly of himself, and pagdumdum nga daw kon sin-o gid ako. We can only think too highly of ourselves when we think of others as non-entity, as nothing compared to us, ngaa ma-una pa na sia sa akon, ngaa mas taas pa ina sia sang sa akon haw? We can only think too highly of ourselves when we look down on others, when we acquire too low an opinion of everyone else. I deserve this place because I am better than you. I deserve better treatment because I am better than the rest who are here. Humility therefore is not about how you look at yourself, but how you look at others. It is a way of seeing other people. That is why humility is not just a virtue but a Christian, a basic Christian attitude - it is how we see other people, and how we see other people will determine how we fulfil the only commandment for a Christian - the commandment of love - its fulfilment has for its basis how we see others.
If you examine the sayings of Jesus this is the more consistent meaning of humility. Why did Jesus attacked the self-righteousness of the Pharisees? Because they used their goodness as reason to belittle others; they used their good deeds to put down what others have done; they used their holiness to demean and highlight further the flaws and defects of others; they used their knowledge to scoff at the ignorance of others. Humility here is not about how one sees himself but how one sees the other.
Only when you understand humility as such could begin to understand the ending of our gospel today: Jesus said, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Why is there a hesitancy for the Pharisees to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind? Why? Because of how they look at them. They are pariah, they are outsiders, not of their own kind, they are the despised.
See. It’s how you look at others.
People who were eating at the table immediately cleared the table, and even before I could turn around my neck to look for a chair, I was already seated. I didn’t even have to go to the buffet table, the buffet table came to me, and so did the plate, the spoon, the fork and a bottle of pepsi, two bottles in fact. And you dare call me deprived? This noon I am going again to Brgy. Benedicto for lunch for their fiesta, if you want sumptuous fiesta lunch minus the hustle, you may want to go with me. I am getting used to this treatment but sadly only in Jaro. In other places I have to line up like all the rest and when the line is quiet long, and the stomach is already complaining I get to desire the better treatment I receive in Jaro. That desire is called the feeling of entitlement. I get to feel that I deserve better treatment. I get to feel that deserve to be served, to be given a better seat, to be ushered in without a hustle, to be accorded special honors and treatment. The feeling that you are entitled to something because of who you are, because of what you do, maybe because of what you did, and perhaps because of what you own. You feel you are entitled to something better, something you can demand because you earned, you merited it, you deserve it. Most often this is not expressed as we find it too rude to do so, but it can be there as a feeling. It is called the feeling of entitlement.
This is what Jesus confronts among the dinner guests. They were scrambling for the best place, the place they thought they deserved to be because of their rank, position, power and probably by reason of their intimacy to the host. Jesus used this mad scramble for the best place, for the deserved place, for entitlement, Jesus used this to teach a very important lesson in Christian life - the lesson in humility.
What is humility? Sometimes the best way to learn something is to study its opposite, its negative nuance. The opposite of humility is pride. But nowadays the word pride is used in a lot of ways, some of which may not be that negative - pride for being a Filipino for example - this is something positive. For me the more common and therefore the more specific term, and therefore the more understandable term opposed to humility is actually a phrase. What is that phrase - one who thinks too highly of himself, and pagdumdum nga daw kon sin-o gid ako. We can only think too highly of ourselves when we think of others as non-entity, as nothing compared to us, ngaa ma-una pa na sia sa akon, ngaa mas taas pa ina sia sang sa akon haw? We can only think too highly of ourselves when we look down on others, when we acquire too low an opinion of everyone else. I deserve this place because I am better than you. I deserve better treatment because I am better than the rest who are here. Humility therefore is not about how you look at yourself, but how you look at others. It is a way of seeing other people. That is why humility is not just a virtue but a Christian, a basic Christian attitude - it is how we see other people, and how we see other people will determine how we fulfil the only commandment for a Christian - the commandment of love - its fulfilment has for its basis how we see others.
If you examine the sayings of Jesus this is the more consistent meaning of humility. Why did Jesus attacked the self-righteousness of the Pharisees? Because they used their goodness as reason to belittle others; they used their good deeds to put down what others have done; they used their holiness to demean and highlight further the flaws and defects of others; they used their knowledge to scoff at the ignorance of others. Humility here is not about how one sees himself but how one sees the other.
Only when you understand humility as such could begin to understand the ending of our gospel today: Jesus said, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Why is there a hesitancy for the Pharisees to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind? Why? Because of how they look at them. They are pariah, they are outsiders, not of their own kind, they are the despised.
See. It’s how you look at others.
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