Friday, October 28, 2011

On humility

Prayer for the Day

O Lord, Send your Spirit upon us to help us take the lowest place in body and in heart!

Rosary Intentions

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pray for us who have recourse to thee!

My rosary intention today is for atonement of sins of pride in the world. Mother Mary, most humble virgin, plead for us to your Son, that he may see the humility in our hearts, not the arrogance of our actions. Amen.

Reflection

We are all equals on this earth and in God’s eyes, and sometimes those who seem humble are actually very powerful. There are people who believe that they are exalted, and in most cases, the culture in which they live has given them this status. Are the ones we have made exalted really behaving as we might expect exalted folks to behave? Just as the Gospel reminds us that “for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted,” (Luke 14:1, 7-11) so too, of those who are given much, much is expected. Whether celebrity or elected official, whether teacher or parent, whether religious leader or professional athlete, we give to those individuals and positions the exalted status they hold and exercise. And, yet, each is merely a human being in God’s eyes and perhaps more should be expected from each of them given the status we have given them.

From the teaching Jesus offers us, I grasp the instruction to be humble. I do not necessarily expect to be exalted someday, but I truly value being humble, and I know that I should be more humble than I am. I know that I should extend myself and my resources to more than I do. I know that I should be more attentive to those who serve me, and I know that I should be much more grateful for the gifts and benefits that have been given to me. Humble is an attitude that I must work on each day and for which I must ask God’s help in my daily prayers. In addition to my prayers, each day, I can best practice humility by asking how I have humbled myself in the face of those who believe they are lesser than me. Then, I need to actually be that humble person in their eyes.

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"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".