Deacon Tom Writes,
“A Spirit Of Humility”
The Sacred Writer of the Book of Sirach tells us
that practicing the virtue of humility draws us closer to God. Why is that? We
learn from the Catechism of the Catholic Church that humility is the foundation
of prayer, and prayer places our hearts and minds in the presence of God. Indeed,
God becomes our companion on the journey of life when we develop a sincere
prayer life. In the quiet solitude of prayer we come to know God, grow in love
for the divine indwelling, and come to realize that we are intimately and
eternally one with God.
What a good place to be – in the presence of God, and
to find his favor. In prayer we seek God’s guidance and seek the spiritual
courage to follow the movement of the spirit within us to bring God’s love,
mercy, and compassion to everyone we meet in the course of the day. In order to
make room for God in our lives, though, we have to give up something very near
and dear to us, we have to give up some of our own free will, a bit of our egos
and our self absorbed way of thinking and behaving.
To fill that void we create in letting go of our
“false self’ as Thomas Merton calls it, God endows us with the divine Spirit of Humility to complete us. The Spirit of Humility gives us the desire
to serve God rather than our own selfish interests. If we do not stifle this Spirit of Humility, it will guide us to
serve God in just the way that God desires to be served.
Jesus tries to explain the Spirit of Humility in today’s gospel. See, left to ourselves our
pride or egos will seek self gratification at every opportunity. We will take
the best seat in the house, the bowl with the most ice cream in it (chocolate,
double fudge, please…); we will want to reserve the cream of the crop for
ourselves. In the example Jesus shares with us today, he tells us that our
mindset needs adjusting. We need to rearrange our thinking to allow others to
go first, to let someone else have the place of privilege, to let the weak and
lame share in the glories of life. These actions do not come naturally to us. We
have to learn to learn them by practicing virtuous living.
Furthermore, we can’t overcome our selfish
tendencies by ourselves, If we desire to grow in virtue and become more
spiritually mature, we need help from above. If we truly ask for God’s help,
Jesus will place within our hearts the divine Spirit of Humility that will enable us to follow in his footsteps
by loving and serving others as he did and living a virtuous life.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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