Everyone Who Exalts Himself Will Be Humbled, and the one Who Humbles Himself Will Be Exalted: A Reflection on Luke

Luke Saturday October 29, 2005 Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary # 484

FOCUS Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

In the first reading, we hear four very important words: rejection, covenant, call and gift. These words are directly related, intimately connected, to our lives as Christians. We can see from the story of our ancestors, the Jews, that God's love is everlasting; it comes with no strings attached. Because of God's covenant, because of His call, we are never rejected. Though we may wander far from God's teachings, though we may stray from His plan, He always loves us, invites us back, welcomes us home.

In the Gospel, we see a continuation of the theme. Jesus' very words to us were, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted". We hear that in our lowliness, it is God who will lift us up, who will exalt us. Even when we take it upon ourselves to seek honors and accolades, God forgives us and welcomes us back.

It is Jesus who says to us, "My friend, come up higher." In following His path, the path of true humility, we will find ourselves exalted when it counts. In embracing the humility of Christ in this life, we will be exalted in the next. In taking the "higher ground", the more difficult road, we become worthy of Jesus' invitation.

So those four words, rejection, covenant, call, and gift color our lives as followers of Jesus, for it is as His followers that we come to seek and find what is truth: We are perhaps rejected by the world, but not by God. God's covenant is everlasting. God's call is irrevocable. And, truly, it is all gift.

Saturday October 29, 2005 Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary # 484

FOCUS Jesus says, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Jesus gives us the example of perfect humility. As his followers, we, likewise, take up the path of true humility - the path of the cross.

LITURGY OF THE WORD In the first reading, we see that loss brings reconciliation, that life comes from death. In the Gospel,