This weekend we hear two parable stories that illustrate that there were “issues” in the infant Church just as there are “issues” in our contemporary Catholic Church—I guess the old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is true.

These two stories are part of a teaching by Jesus known as Table Fellowship, and it speaks to the rank of an individual’s social status based upon where they are seated at a social function, i. e., a wedding reception banquet such as in today’s Gospel.

This Sunday the Lord wants us to know that rather than “announcing our own social importance” by claiming the best seat at a banquet or any other socially important setting, we should enter into the “reception” with humility. Humility is a quality—a virtue—that enables one to recognize who they are and who they are not; to know the self and who we are to become in this life if they choose Christ, His Will and His Way. To prioritize what God commands of us—to search for the excellence of the other(s) and know that we are not always called to be “the first, but rather the last” and help build up the Kingdom of God.

The meaning questions how are we preparing to enter into the Kingdom of God? Will we put our needs always first—or will we compromise for the other? In marriage do we make decisions based on our needs or on the need of the whole family?

Humility demands that we not only think of others but at times think of them first. As we look one day to the Kingdom Of God as our true home, we should prepare for entering into those Gates dressed in a lifetime of the virtue of Humility.