2nd Week of Lent 2021 - Tuesday - Humility, humility, humility

Yesterday, we considered four commands given by the Lord to his disciples: Be merciful. Stop Judging. Stop condemning. Forgive.

Today’s Gospel can be boiled down to one commandment: be humble. 

Humility is the very first of the beatitudes preached in the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Being humble, being poor in spirit, is the first step in beatitude, in holiness. 

When St. Augustine was asked to name the three most important virtues, he gave an interesting answer. The first he said is “humility”, the second he said is “humility”, and third he said is “humility”

The Lord’s own humility is beyond our comprehension. He chose to be born in a stable at Bethlehem. As a baby, he was a Refugee in Egypt. He lived in the obscure village of Nazareth. He had the menial job of a carpenter. During His public ministry, he had nowhere to lay His head. As Isaiah foretold: "He was spurned and avoided by men, a Man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity". He allowed himself to be misunderstood, mocked, arrested, beaten and tortured. He humbled Himself even to death on a cross, the death of a slave.

St. Francis of Assisi said: “Everyday, Jesus humbles Himself just as He did when He came from His heavenly throne into the Virgin's womb; everyday He comes to us and lets us see Him in abjection, when He descends from the bosom of the Father into the hands of the priest at the altar. He shows Himself to us in this sacred bread just as He once appeared to His apostles in real flesh.”  

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Our Lenten task certainly, then, is to identify those ways in which we exalt ourself, and imitate and practice the humility exalted and commanded by the Lord.

We are to give alms without the blowing of trumpets, pray behind closed doors, and fast without show. We are to shun the spotlight, turn away from seats of honor, and take up the washbasin to wash the dirty feet of our neighbor, and to do so without hope of earthly repayment or notoriety. We are to be broken, shared, and poured out like ordinary bread and ordinary wine. We are to seek the shattering of our earthly pride and seek forgiveness from God and our neighbor who we have wronged.

May this Lent help us grow in humility, by decreasing our instincts of self-aggrandizement and self-promotion, that we might truly learn to love and serve others for their own sake, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving may humble our earthly pride and bring about conversion and renewal within the Church.

For all those preparing to enter into Christ through the saving waters of Baptism and those preparing for full initiation this Easter, may these final Lenten weeks bring about purification from sin and enlightenment in the ways of holiness.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ. 

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.