Ecclesiasticus 3:17-20, 28-29 / Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24 / Luke 14:1, 7-14
The history of mankind has seen many great conquerors who built great empires.
We have read about Alexander. He was called the Great and rightly so. His empire stretched from Europe to Asia.
Then there was Caesar and the great Roman Empire.
Then a period of time passed before another great conqueror surfaced in Europe. We have heard of Napoleon Bonaparte. He also marched through Europe and conquered most of it.
In the year 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte captured the city of Rome, and took Pope Pius VI prisoner.
Napoleon thought that he could intimidate the Pope and force him to become his puppet because the Church had considerable political power at that time.
But the Pope refused to neither cooperate with Napoleon nor be his puppet, and in a fit of anger, Napoleon shouted at the Pope: If you do not do as I command, I will destroy the Church.
The Pope replied: Oh no, you won’t. Napoleon retorted: Oh yes, I will - within a year.
To which the Pope calmly replied: If we, who are the Church, have for 1800 years, failed to destroy the Church with our sins, I doubt very much you will succeed.
Well, the Church still exists, whereas Napoleon Bonaparte had passed on as just another memory in the pages of history books.
One of the follies of becoming mighty and powerful is that one also becomes proud and arrogant.
Power and might become a “right” that is used to push and to pull in order to get what is wanted.
And usually the casualties are the lowly and the powerless and those who cannot defend themselves. They get swept aside to make way for the powerful and the mighty.
But the 1st reading has this to tell us: The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly, and then you will find favour with the Lord; for great though the power of the Lord is, He accepts the homage of the humble.
In the gospel, Jesus told a parable when He noticed how the guests picked the places of honour.
The parable highlights the fact that our human desires go for the first place and not the last; we desire for the lofty and not the lowly; we want the most and not the least.
But the Lord looks on the lowly and He accepts the homage of the humble and He fills the hungry with good things.
Yes, there is something that the lowly and humble can teach us about the ways of God, because it is to the lowly and humble that God gives His blessings.
It is also through the lowly and humble that God shows His power and might, as this story of the lion and the mouse will show us.
A small mouse crept up to a sleeping lion that had just finished his meal. The mouse longed to have some of the scraps of the leftover meal.
"Since he's sleeping," thought the mouse, "he'll never suspect I'm here!" With that, the little mouse sneaked up and tried to pull off a scrap of the meal. The lion awoke and quickly caught the mouse between its claws.
"Please," said the mouse, "let me go and I'll come back and try help you someday." The lion laughed, "You are so small! How could ever help me?"
The lion laughed so hard he had to hold his belly and he let go of the mouse. The mouse jumped to freedom and ran until he was far, far away.
The next day, two hunters came to the jungle. They went to the lion's lair. They set a huge rope snare. When the lion came home that night, he stepped into the trap and was caught in it.
He roared and roared! He tried with all his might but he couldn't pull himself free. The mouse heard the lion's pitiful roar and came back to help him.
The mouse eyed the trap and noticed the one thick rope that held it together. He began nibbling and nibbling at the rope until the rope broke.
The lion was freed and was able to shake off the other ropes that held him tight. He stood up free again!
The lion turned to the mouse and said, "Dear mouse, I was foolish to ridicule you for being small. You not only helped me, you saved my life too!"
So as much as the mighty and powerful lion is noted for its strength and is even called ‘the king of the jungle”, the lowly and humble mouse can be called upon in the time of need.
Well, back to Napoleon Bonaparte. Towards the end of his life, he was exiled on the small rocky island of St. Helena.
There, the former conqueror of civilized Europe had time to reflect on his life and even on Jesus Christ.
He made this statement: Other conquerors founded their empires by force. Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love and humility.
Napoleon Bonaparte finally understood why he cannot destroy the Church. His pride is no match for the love and humility that the Church is built upon.
So as the Church we must remember what the 1st reading taught us: be gentle in carrying out your business and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.
The power of love is seen in gentleness and humility. To be gentle and humble is what we are called to be. With that we will overcome the pride and arrogance of the world.