It’s human nature for us to want places of honor. Yet Jesus challenges us to do the opposite: to seek the “lowest place.” While many in the world compete for worldly prestige and honor, Jesus is asking Christians to outdo one another in the practice of true humility.

Humility is openness to the Spirit! Being open to the Spirit is being sensitive to where God wants us to serve, like reaching out to the poor and marginalized in our society. Do note that the poor and marginalized are not charity cases or objects of pity but as our brothers and sisters that need our love. When humility is practiced with modesty, we become the reservoir of incredible values, like: honesty, sincerity, generosity, simplicity and compassion.

Many of us know the sinking feeling we get when we approach an airline gate, see the closed door, and realize we’ve missed our flight. Today’s Gospel reading takes that one step further and asks us to contemplate what it would be like to miss out on heaven, seeing that door shut to us forever. “There will be wailing and grinding of teeth,” Jesus says—and we’re faced with the consequences of the choices we make in our life.

Today’s Gospel reading may surprise us. Jesus’ words don’t seem to fit the peaceful forgive-your-enemies-and-turn-the-other-cheek image of Jesus we might have. In fact, he says quite explicitly that he didn’t come to establish peace, but rather, division. What do you think Jesus means by this?

Pope Francis describes this “FIRE” as: “the fire of the Holy Spirit; a creative force that purifies and renews; it burns away every human misery, all selfishness and every sin; and transforms us from within, regenerates and makes us capable of loving… The fire of divine love… does not come from the head but from the heart.”

“For where your treasure is, there also your heart will be.” These words of Jesus challenge us to ask ourselves about our real priorities in life. What is most important? One look at how we use our time or spend our money will tells us what is truly important. Then comes the bigger question: do our priorities line up with God’s?

There’s nothing inherently evil about owning the things we need. However, when our way of life is controlled by our wealth, there’s always a tendency that we neglect our duty to God, our obligations to our families and our responsibilities to our neighbors.

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The Old Testament reading reminds us that we can spend our whole lives acquiring things but, in the end, all of our possessions will go to those who haven’t worked for them. This sets us up for the Gospel reading, as Jesus addresses a man who wants him to settle a dispute about an inheritance. As always, Jesus turns the immediate issue into a lesson about a greater truth.

Greed is a complex conundrum! Spiritual writers tell us that, “possession of money is not the ultimate problem; what matters most is one’s disposition, desires and attitude. The renunciation of money is an outward sign of the more important inward struggle.”