Gospel: St. Luke xiv. I-II.
AT that time: When Jesus went into the house of one of the chief of the Pharisees, on the Sabbath-day, to eat bread, they watched Him. And behold there was a certain man before Him that had the dropsy. And Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day? But they held their peace. But He, taking him, healed him, and sent him away. And answering them, He said: Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit and will not immediately draw him out on the Sabbath-day? And they could not answer Him to these things. And He spoke a parable also to them that were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them: When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honourable than thou be invited by him: and he that invited thee and him come and say to thee: Give this man place; and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place: that when he who invited thee cometh he may say to thee : Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee. Because everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. ”
Q. How could Jesus accept the invitation to the table of a Pharisee?
A. It is true the Pharisees were bad men, but Jesus Christ did not refuse to enter the house of this man, who was one of the most distinguished among them, because He wished to take this opportunity to benefit them by His doctrines and miracles; thus teaching us not to repel or avoid sinners as long as there is any hope of doing them good.
Q. What miracle did Christ work, and what doctrines did He teach on this occasion ?
A. The Gospel relates that on this occasion He healed a man who had the dropsy, and He taught those present as well as us also that it is not forbidden to heal the sick on the Sabbath-day. Besides, He showed that we must avoid pride and cultivate humility.
Q. Of whom was the man that had the dropsy a figure?
A. St. Augustine says that he was a figure of the rich miser who the more he has the more he wants, after the manner of dropsical patients, who the fuller they are of water the more they want to drink.
Q. Is this man a figure of anything else?
A. According to St. Augustine, the dropsy of this man signified any other predominating passion of a sinner. Any passion, when it takes possession of the heart, becomes insatiable, and the more it is gratified the worse it becomes, like the thirst of one afflicted with dropsy. If we notice a drunkard, a proud man, a libertine, an ambitious woman, a miser, we see that the habitual debauch, the beastly excesses, the most extravagant fashions, and the greatest gain do not satisfy their desires, and, much as they may gratify their whims, they never have enough.
Q. How did Jesus prove that it was not forbidden to heal the sick on the Sabbath-day?
A. He proved it from the example of the Pharisees themselves, by saying that if they did not scruple to draw from the pit an ass or an ox that had fallen into it, because their interest required them to do so, much less should there be any difficulty in curing a sick person for charity’s sake and for the glory of God. Those Pharisees were impious men, says the venerable Bede. Through avarice they would violate the law of the Sabbath, and at the same time they accused Christ of violating the Sabbath because He cured a man through charity.
Q. Were the Pharisees convinced by this reasoning?
A. As the Gospel says, they felt that they were silenced, and held their peace. Yet, instead of being enlightened, they became more obstinate in finding fault with Christ, and, as St. John relates, they persecuted Him, telling the people that He was not a friend of God, because He did not observe the Sabbath.
Q. What else worthy of remark took place on this occasion ?
A. That happened which often happens in our day. The Pharisees who had been invited were full of self-conceit. Each one of them had a high opinion of himself; each fancied that he was greater than the others, and each sought to be preferred and to have the first seat at the table.
Q. And what did Jesus Christ do then?
A. Jesus Christ, knowing the ambitious desires of their hearts, gave them the important advice to select the lowest place, so as not to expose themselves to the shame of being obliged to give up the highest place by the command of the host, who had destined it for one who was superior in merit.
Q. What did Christ mean by this counsel?
A. He wished to correct those proud men, by making them understand how improper their ambitious behaviour was in selecting the best places; at the same time He taught all future Christians to close their eyes to their own merits, not to exact attentions, and to believe themselves inferior to others, by always with sincerity of heart choosing the last place for themselves.
Q. With what promise did Christ confirm this lesson?
A. He confirmed it by saying that he who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
Q. Before whom will the proud be humbled and the humble exalted?
A. Before God and men. Even the world despises the proud, and when it can humble them it does it with pleasure. On the other hand, it loves, esteems, and praises the truly humble, and is pleased when their merit is appreciated. God, says St. Hilary, will humble the pride of the ambitious and glorify the humble, if not in this life, certainly and forever in the next.
Q. In what does true humility consist?
A. It consists in considering ourselves as nothing before God and men, for indeed we are nothing, and all we have, in the order of nature or in the order of grace, comes from God, as also all we do, great or small, depends on His help and goodness.
Q. What are the degrees of Christian humility?
A. They are as follows: To know ourselves, our insufficiency, our natural misery, and hence to have a low opinion of ourselves. Secondly, to bear patiently and with fortitude humiliations, wherever they may come from. Finally, to rejoice in these humiliations and to say with David: It is good, O Lord, that Thou hast humbled me.
Taken from Analysis of the Gospel of the Sundays of the year. From the Italian of Angelo Cagnola. By Rev. L. A. Lambert, LL.D.
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