The importance of humility

Have you ever known someone who was thoroughly convinced of their own importance?  It is never a pleasant sight.  The Gospel of Luke relates the parable of choosing your seat at the banquet.  Our Lord instructs us never to go for the most prestigious seat, near the host, but rather to choose a lower place.  This is not false humility but a state of mind.  The Apostle Paul admonishes us: “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.”  He goes on to say, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil. 2:3-4)

Humility is the key antidote to Pride, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.  I would suggest that Pride is the parent of all the other Deadly Sins, hence the reason we are so often encouraged to cultivate humility.  When we pursue humility, we remind ourselves that we are not the most important element.  We seek the best for others.  How many marriages would be better for such an attitude?  What great healing could be found if we were to seek the best for others.  Healing will be found in our own hearts as well.  One well known exorcist will prescribe the Litany of Humility for those experiencing depression because it implores God to grant the grace to place others before ourselves.  Focusing on the needs of others can help refocus our hearts to a more positive world view.  I would encourage everyone to pray this litany at least once this week slowly and carefully.  There will be a link on the webpage and on our Facebook page.

Does this mean that we are to walk around quoting the Psalm, “…I am a worm and not a man.”?  Not entirely.  The essential is to allow God to be the One to elevate you.  The Apostle James instructs us to “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.”  From the day of our Baptism we should focus on walking humbly before the Lord.  Micah 6:8 tells us, “He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and love kindness, and to walk humbly you’re your God.” When the day of our judgement comes, He will be the one to decide our place at the feast and we will rejoice to be present, even if our place at the table is in the far back corner.

 

When you pray, what is your usual method, do you pray, demanding God’s attention, or perhaps with a feeling that your prayers do not even get past the ceiling in your room?  Bartimaeus was a blind man on the outskirts of Jericho. I can easily imagine that he was probably rather discouraged in his prayers before Jesus came along. When he heard that Jesus was passing by, he began to call out to Our Lord, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” What made this man different from many others is that when he was told to be quiet, he only yelled the louder.  Here we have our first lesson in effective prayer, persistence. When St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, prayed for his conversion, it was over 30 years before she had her answer. There are some who may never see the answer in this life, it does not mean they should give up.
The second lesson is not to listen to those who would have you give up. It is not uncommon for Satan to use situations or individuals to convince us it is not worth the effort to continue praying for this or that outcome.  Thus, we can become discouraged and even convince ourselves that we need to give up. It is necessary to check ourselves to ensure that our desires are in accord with God’s will. Asking for a win in the multi-million-dollar jackpot in the lottery may not be within the will of God, and would be a prayer very unlikely to be answered.
The last lesson is that following Christ in our prayer may lead us to move out into deep waters.  Bartimaeus was one of the few who followed our Lord immediately. And the Gospel is quite plain that he left his cloak behind. This was equivalent to leaving his supports behind. The cloak in the time of Christ was your coat, rain poncho, sun protection and sleeping bag all in one. To leave it behind would be to follow the Lord with complete abandon. We too are called to follow the Lord into the unknown with complete abandon.  How willing are we to commit ourselves in Faith to the Lord Who calls us to Him?
 

We read in the book of Wisdom chapter 7 “I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.” The rich young man in Mark 10: 17-30 came to Jesus asking what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. The answer started simply enough, obey the law of God. He could easily check off these from his list. But then, Scripture tells us the Lord looked at him, and loved him. He saw within this young man the value of a soul in search of God. He also saw the greatest impediment to the young man’s salvation was his trust in possessions. Hence, in order to remove what kept him from eternity he was instructed to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and come follow Jesus. He went away crestfallen, he could not let go of his possessions.  What stands between us and eternity? Do we become sidetracked from following Christ because of hardship, or cost, or a lack of immediate reward? We are called daily to die to ourselves and take up our cross to follow Christ. Only in Him is our life complete.
 

"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" John 6:9
 
I wonder if the role of the unnamed boy is too often overlooked when considering the feeding of the 5000. It was not some super-wealthy individual who  stepped forward with donkey trains loaded with food. It was a young boy who was willing to bring the small offering of his lunch and place it in the hands of the Master.  The faith demonstrated by the unnamed boy is instructive. He did not look at his lunch and the size of the crowd, and determine that he would be laughed at, or that it would be a useless gesture and find a quiet spot to discretely nibble his lunch.
 
Have you ever asked yourself, “what good could I possibly do?” We see the situation in the world today, we see the state of the community, society, and even the church, and ask ourselves what our little contribution would be against the need.  We are all called to be faithful to God, to trust in God and to give all we have to God. We are not the ones who make the gift expand to meet the need. We are the ones who trustingly provide all that we have; it need not be large, merely given with an open heart.
 
We come to the Lord and present Him with our humble gifts of prayer, love, and service. They of themselves are like the five loaves and two fish. We present them to the hands of our Lord, He is able to multiply them to the service of the Church.
 

We so often want to be more than we are, we want to take on the world, and win. The Apostle Paul was no different. He wanted to be perfect for the sake of Christ, he also wanted to be free of whatever would hold him back from being the “super apostle” that would save the world. Paul acknowledged that what held him back was the “thorn in the flesh”. This is never named, and for good reason. We are all able to acknowledge a thorn in the flesh, something, large or small, that serves to keep us humble. If Paul had named what it was, we could easily discount it as “not my problem”. However, when we do not now what it is we are encouraged to examine our lives, and identify those things which hold us back, bad habits, physical or spiritual limitations, or perhaps naysayers that might hamper our efforts for Christ. This brings us to the examination of conscience. We can never know what is holding us back if we never go looking for it.
 
Plato quotes Socrates as saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” This is good advice. The Divine Office closes the day with an examination of conscience. This is our chance to look back on the day and assess how well we did. Honesty is the best medicine in this examination. If sin is present, let us confess it, if there are things that cause us to praise God, let us do so with joy. The end of Paul’s frustration is his revelation from our Lord that it is not a matter of his ability, but that he (and we) can do all things through Christ who strengthens [us]. So, when we are faced with frustration, or the seemingly impossible task, let us remember the words of our Lord, “My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness.” It’s not about our abilities or lack thereof, it is how well we trust in the Lord’s mercy and strength.
 

To what shall we compare the kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade
 
The essential relationship that we are called to is a personal relationship with Christ. We are called to obedience to the call of God in our hearts. At times we can become frustrated with the slow growth in our spiritual lives, and we are impatient to become great saints. This is normal, we are creatures in time, we are all created with a clock in our minds that calls out the days of our lives are growing shorter. Therefore, we want instant results. This is not how growth happens. It would be like the farmer in the first parable standing in the field, screaming at the crop to grow faster. All the farmer would accomplish is frustration and hoarseness. Instead, it is found by patiently waiting for the seed of the Gospel to grow at its own pace. Seeds need sunlight, we do so by meditating on the Gospel in our hearts, daily asking God to shine His light of illumination in our hearts, that we might grow. We are reminded of this in the last portion of the Gospel when the disciples gathered around the Lord in private to inquire as to the meaning of the Gospel. 
 
While patience is essential in the Christian life, persistence is also essential. I always love the picture of a tree growing from a rock, its roots slowly, but inexorably crack through the hard rock to find the soil which will give life. In the same way, we are to persistently seek the Lord’s presence and guidance in our lives, that the hardness of our hearts may give way to the internal, eternal life of the soul.
 
Our Lord also refers to the mustard seed, the tiniest seed, not much more than a grain of sand, yet it grows large enough for birds to nest in its shade. As the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven begins to mature in our lives spiritually, we can provide the shelter and spiritual protection to those whom God sends into our lives. This comes not because of our own righteousness, but from the living relationship with God that has grown in our hearts.