Everyone wants to be liked by as many people as possible. Very few people want to be disliked by anyone. And so, early on, we learn how to get along with other people. We learn what other people like. We learn how to go along with the crowd. We learn how to try and impress other people. And a lot of this has to do with the advertising industry. We get bombarded so many times every day with the message that if only you used this kind of toothpaste, or if you drove this kind of car, or if you ate at this restaurant, then you’d be liked, then you’d be popular. You see, the advertisers are smart. They play on our desire to be liked, and our fear of rejection. Just watch the ads! You want to be loved? Then, you should brush with Colgate. You want to be popular? Then you should drive a Honda. This is because everybody who drives a Honda in all those Honda commercials is happy and popular. You want to be important, to be somebody? Then, you’ve got to eat at Red Lobster. All those people in the Red Lobster ads look important, don’t they? They don’t look like they are having any self-esteem problems as they are stuffing their faces with crab legs, do they?

Some people even go so far as to take THAT course on how to get people to like them. It’s true. It’s that Dale Carnegie course on “How to Win Friends and Influence Your Enemies”. Or is it, “How to win enemies and influence your friends”? I always get that mixed up. They say that thousands of people take that course every month. Then don’t you wonder why life doesn’t look more like it does in the commercials? You know what I’d like to do, don’t you? I’d like to make a list of people who I would like to send to Dale Carnegie. Don’t you think the world would be a safer place if we just sent Osama Bin Laden to Dale Carnegie? Or how about Vice-President Dick Cheney? Wouldn’t the current administration seem a lot more caring, if Vice-President Cheney would just go to Dale Carnegie? Or how about Tony Steward, or Mike Tyson, or John McEnroe? Wouldn’t sports be a lot more people friendly, if only we could get those three to take Dale Carnegie? I don’t know.

What I do know is that we come here today, and the Lord is giving us His version of how to be liked and how to have friends. In both our first reading from Sirach and in our Gospel from St. Luke, we get advice from God on how to best get along. And both of these readings say that the secret to being loved is in humility. Pride gets in the way of our relationships. Hello? This should not be a news flash. How many proud and haughty people do you like to hang around? The wisdom of Sirach rings true for all of us: “Conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts”. There you go! God is giving us the secret. Who needs Dale Carnegie now? A humble heart keeps things in perspective. A humble heart recognized the dignity of each and every person, and not just oneself. A humble heart puts others before our self. In the selfish world that we live in today, this is a radical way of living. But it’s not new. Isn’t it exactly the way that Jesus lived two thousand years ago? Sure it is. Jesus humbled Himself by even coming down and getting involved with all of us. And then there was His rejection by the Jews and that whole Jerusalem thing there at the end. It was all very humbling. Jesus knows what’s it’s like to take a shot to the old pride and ego. It’s not much fun. But it does help us to keep things in perspective.

And then there’s this wonderful parable about humility that Jesus tells to the very people who are fighting for seats right in front of Him! Jesus had guts, didn’t He? The parable reminds us that it is always better to be called up, so to speak, to a higher place, than it is to have to be asked to move “down” to make room for somebody else. That would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it? The Gospel too reminds us that we’ve got to get out of ourselves. The world does not revolve around us. And it is wrong for us to start thinking that it does.

The real key to true humility lies in our sense of security and standing with God, not with other people. We need to worry less about what others think or where they “rank” us. Humility is to be at peace with what and who I am in God’s eyes, and that is loved and forgiven. Isn’t that what Jesus came to teach us? Our own self-worth and value as person is never going to be something that we push others aside to grab hold of, but rather it is a dignity that comes from being loved by God.

This Gospel is not just about social etiquette and getting along together. But this Gospel reminds us that the frequent and the familiar are important in our relationship with God. How we behave, how we handle ourselves, every day, matters. It matters to God. And it should matter to us.

Let us live humbly because that’s the way that Jesus lived.

May God bless us… Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN !!!
St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!