22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 - The virtue of Humility and the purification from Pride

 This month, many of my bulletin columns and homilies have been about the virtue of humility. If you remember, we began the month of August with the feast of doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori. And that great teacher of the faith recommends that each month we intentionally focus on developing and practicing a particular virtue. If we are going to grow in holiness and grow in virtue, we need to be intentional about it. And the virtue for the month of August, St. Alphonsus recommends practicing is the virtue of humility.

One of the most important laws in Christ's Kingdom is the law of humility. This law says that "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted".

In other words, greatness in his Kingdom comes not from trying to prove that you are more important than other people, lording power over others, or garnering or amassing more worldly attention than other people. 

Greatness in God's eyes comes from serving others, elevating others, helping others advance in holiness.

In his great sermon on the Mount, the Lord reiterates the law of humility: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." We are before God like beggars—poor in spirit, recognizing our need of God for life—for everything. To be poor in spirit is the first step in obtaining beatitude—blessedness. There can be no growth in holiness, no progress toward the kingdom without humility; for if our actions are not motivated by humility, we are motivated by its enemy, pride.

The law of humility is stated directly in (in the book of Sirach): "conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved... Humble yourself... and you will find favor with God."

The first sin of Adam and Eve was a sin against humility, refusing to submit to the instruction of God, not trusting that God would provide for them. Because sinful pride is so ingrained in us, the Lord Jesus taught us to practice humility not simply by his words, but by his example, living out humility to the extreme: through his passion and death.

Jesus, the Lord of heaven, was born in a stable. He lived in obscurity—as the son of a manual laborer. Even during his public ministry, He allowed his reputation to be dragged through the mud by the lies and corruption of his enemies. He allowed himself to be stripped of every honor, to be condemned as a criminal, and freely took on the most humiliating form of death - crucifixion. But humbled so thoroughly, he is now glorified so magnificently.

We are to imitate the humility of Christ in all of our relationships and endeavors. The Christian must first of all be humble. No remember, humility does not mean that we think less of ourselves than we should. TO be humble is to live in the truth that we are children of God, and that is something to celebrate. We are children of God, dependent on God, dependent on the Father’s providence for all we truly need. We are also sinners in need of conversion. And called to be servants—to serve God, and God alone, in the master’s vineyard. 

St. Augustine, whose feast is August 28 said, “If you should ask me what are the three most important virtues, I would tell you they are humility, humility, and humility…if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are meaningless.”

Such humility is the foundation for the life of holiness and for all the virtues. St. John Vianney said: “humility is to the various virtues what the chain is to a rosary. Take away the chain and the beads are scattered; remove humility, and all the virtues vanish.”

As I’ve also mentioned in the past, this summer I’m reading Dante’s Divine Comedy as part of my daily spiritual reading. In the second book of the Divine Comedy, Dante begins to climb the mountain of purgatory. There he meets those souls who have repented of their sins, but who still require purification. In life, if are attached to sin, even if we repent, we will still require some purification after death. The saints teach that it is far easier to work on the virtues in this earthly life, than in purgatory. So we do well, as St. Alphonsus says, to be very intentional in growing in the virtues.

But for those requiring purification, the mountain of purgatory, in Dante, is divided into seven terraces, seven levels, in which souls are purified of their attachments to the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. 

Many people think lust or wrath are the worst sins we can commit on earth. But for Dante, it’s pride. Because, again, pride keeps us from obtaining all the other virtues: it keeps us from faith, hope, and love. 

So the very first terrace of purgatory is for the purification of pride. And the souls for their purification from pride are carrying this great weight on their backs and shoulders, the weight of their pride. The greater your pride the more purification you need. And for many of those souls, their going to be carrying that weight around for a while, as in purgatory, the purification at attainment from virtue is a slow process.

Interestingly, at the beginning of each terrace of purgatory, Dante finds these marble sculptures—these marble depictions of the virtue the souls will need to require. Much like how are stained glass windows depict so many of the saints and biblical figures exhibiting faith and charity, those marble sculptures were a visual aid for the poor souls. 

Also interestingly, on each terrace, Dante encounters a marble statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for she is the model of all virtues, the perfect disciple of Christ, the example for all Christians to contemplate. At the base of that first terrace, Dante sees this marble depiction of the annunciation: in which the Archangel Gabriel announces God’s will to Mary, and she humbly declares herself to be the Ancilla Domini, the handmaiden of the Lord. She then offers the prayer of humble surrender: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. Let it be done to be according to thy word.

That is certainly a prayer we do well to begin each day with: Lord help me to be your servant today. Help me to serve you at every moment, in every encounter and interaction, in all of my words and deeds. Help me to hold back, restrain, and discipline my pride. Help me to keep the image of the Blessed Mother first and foremost in my mind and heart, that I may imitate her humility. Our Lady of Humility, pray for me, that I may become worthy of the promises of Christ.

In addition to starting the day off on the right foot, with some good humble prayer, ensure that at some point in the day you are picking up that Bible. Reading and taking to heart the Word of God is one way God wants to help us grow in holiness. If you say, “I don’t need to read the Bible. I don’t need to take to heart God’s word. I know everything I need to know. I have more important things to do.” Is that Christian humility? 

I’ve said it before as well, but if you are able, try to attend mass throughout the week. For at Mass, we encounter the humility of Jesus Himself, who gives himself to us in the humble appearance of bread and wine. 

In the words of St. Augustine, at Mass we become what we receive—through the humble reception of the Eucharist, we receive the one who was obedient to the Father’s will unto death. At Mass, we humbly recognize that before God we are beggars, we are the blind and the lame, the crippled and poor, mentioned in the Gospel, whom the Lord has welcomed into his banquet, because he desires our company, and desires to nourish us and strengthen us for the humble work of the Gospel. May we seek to practice humility in all of our duties, responsibilities, relationships and endeavors; humble in our earthly life, that we may be exalted in eternal life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.