Sitting at the Place of honour

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22nd Sunday of Ordinary time.

This year marks for me another important milestone in my life. This year marks 20 years since I first got involved in an organization called the Vincentian Volunteers. IT was a community that I joined when I was taking my gap year out. As a community we followed the rule of St Vincent de Paul and worked largely with the poor of the community weather that be spiritual with retreats for young people or working in Luton and London with the homeless. As a 19 year old the youth work came naturally to me the hardest thing that I found was working with the Homeless. I wondered what I could give them. Then one day a young girl came in about the same age as me who had lived in the streets for about a year. I realised through talking to her that we were all the same. My problem was that I did not see the homeless as human. I had a deep prejudice for them.

There are many people in our world who will not give the time of day to certain groups of people because they don’t fit into their own social setting. We need to be very careful about how we deal with people as Christians we should treat everyone the same as a Child of God and yet we don’t. I remember someone asking me where I came from and when I said “Essex” they just said rather snobbishly “Oh dear.” When we surround ourselves with people who we are trying to impress the keeping up with the jones syndrome we are not being our true selves.

So how and what should we do? It is obvious from Jesus today that as Christians we should no ambition to be the greatest and so not look for positions of abusive power over people. Our ambition comes from God and out of humble service to the whole of humanity no matter who they are. The vision of Jesus is to gently lead people to Christ by service and gentleness not by using power over people.  

 

As catholic Christians we have often in the past been arrogant about our faith believing that we have the only way to salvation. This has led to rather than drawing people closer to God has done the opposite. Rather than allowing others in love to sit at the place of honour we have guarded it and driven others away. Unfortunately there are a few out there in positions of power and authority who still seek the higher place clambering over others to get their by their arrogance and lack of love. They lack often both humility and a listening heart.

Let us pray for the Church and its leaders that they bring people closer to God allowing others to sit at places of honour. I think they may get a shock at who is actually sitting in the places of honour in the Kingdom God. They will be the poor, the rejected those who they by past in their lives.    

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