God has created a law for the natural order such that what goes up must come down. God has made there to be the same law for the supernatural order: what goes up must come down, and what goes down must come up. If you are prideful in this life, if you make yourself out to be something greater than you are, if you despise others and are selfish, you will go down to hell after this life is over. If on the other hand, you are humble during this life, if you willingly accept corrections and humiliations, if you think well of others and poorly of yourself, if you are unselfish and sacrificial, then you will go up to Heaven after this life is over. This is the law of Divine Providence that Our Lord teaches us in today’s Gospel, and also in other places of the Gospel: “everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” If we want to save our souls, we have to be humble. There is no other way. There are only prideful souls in hell and only humble souls in heaven. There is no one who has understood this plan of God better than the saints. For the saints, there are only two places: the first place and the last place. But the first place is already taken; it is occupied by God. Thus, the only other place available is the last place, and that is my place. The saints thought of Our Lord as speaking to them in today’s Gospel when He says, “Take the last place.”
