In Lk. 14: 7-14, Jesus teaches His disciples about the virtue of humility. When we do not take the “choice seats,” but take the lowest place, we learn to be humble.

“A humble person is blessed.” Many of our problems and troubles could have been avoided if we practiced humility to God and to others. Pride is disobedience to God, believing that we can do without Him. Thus, the road back to God’s heart is humility. As they say, unless and until we take this road, we will not have true peace.

Many of our problems can be healed only with humility. When we accept our failures in humility, reach out to God and to others, forgive others and forgive ourselves in humility, we experience true healing and freedom. As someone put it beautifully, the best “calming tea is humility.”

The Gospel says strive to enter the narrow door (Lk. 13, 22-30). In heaven, there is no trespassing, no one can gate crash their way to enter heaven. Sometimes we would think that a merit system works in heaven, through good work or acts of goodness. Worse, some think they can buy their way to heaven. Remember, the road to hell is a highway, and the road to heaven is a stairway. Salvation is God’s grace, mercy and a blessing. To have faith is to enter the narrow door, to take the stairway rather than the highway. The journey of life is not a matter of taking the fastest lane that would lead us to the farthest destination. The journey maybe slow, the distance short, with a lot of inconvenience, and at times difficult. To have faith, is making a personal choice to stay in the stairway. Many times, we think we know how to save ourselves. It is for God to save, and it is for us only to enter the narrow door and stay in the course of the stairway.

In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us to make a radical decision to change the direction of our lives. He urges us to go beyond mediocrity and self-preservation and take the path of true commitment. He wants his disciples to be on fire, neither cold nor lukewarm, but like a burning coal.

How real is our faith, and how deep is our commitment to God? Many Christians fall into the habit of complacency and mediocrity. They are good at watching things at bay. They belong neither here nor there. They are also self-appointed commentators when it comes to everything and everyone, but end up having nothing to do with everything and everyone.

Lk. 12:32-48: Missio-destination

The Gospel says, to be “like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when He comes and knocks.” Jesus wants us to be watchful and vigilant. May our worldly treasures: possessions, achievements, power, and prestige not sidetrack us, so that we lose sight of the real treasures in this life and in the life to come.

One of life’s greatest fear is losing something or someone of great value to us. I’ve always said, fear is inversely proportional to faith. As fear increases, faith decreases, but as faith increases, fear decreases. The sooner we learn to have faith and trust in God, the sooner we will have peace. Faith is surrendering and not managing, where we tend to control, push, and at times play games with God. Jesus reminds us, to seek security not in worldly plans and achievements, but faith in His will and providence.