When reading this weekend's readings I was drawn at first to the Gospel; I thought that I may have been drawn to it because I spent last weekend at a family wedding and had a great time. In my head I'm thinking, "ok I got this, I can totally play off of this week's readings and my wedding from the other day" but before I sat down to write, I reread all of the readings again and realized I wasn't drawn to the Gospel because of the wedding, I was drawn to the Gospel (and the 2nd time around) the first reading, because of the message of humility.
"My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
and you will find favor with God." From the Book of Sirach
And
For every one who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." From the Gospel according to Luke
Humility is one of the most misunderstood virtues and one that is often fun to reflect on what authentic humility actually is. When I am being humble, am I just pretending to be humble or do I actually feel that humility in my heart, is that how I truly feel?
Each day, I try to read something spiritual and not just the front page of espn.com. Sometimes I succeed in reading daily and sometimes it's more of a challenge and I only do it once or twice a week. When I do make time to read, one of things in my rotation of spiritual readings is a website called "Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy: 365 Days with Saint Faustina." Ever since I visited St. Faustina's convent in Krakow, Poland, I have had a deep love for the Divine Mercy and St. Faustina. One of the images on the wall in my office came from that convent; it's an image of Jesus' Divine Mercy shining down on Pope Saint John Paul II and the words "Jezu Ufam Tobie" written underneath, which is "Jesus, I trust in you" in Polish.
When reflecting on the readings today I remembered an article from that site that I had read recently on humility that I really enjoyed and thought I would share with all of you this week:
"The glorious virtue of humility must be understood, continually pondered and continually embraced. What is humility? It is nothing other than knowing the truth about yourself, believing that truth and living in accord with that truth. Only you and God know the depths of your conscience. Human opinion matters little. Some may offer false judgments of you presuming your pride or another sin. And at other times some may speak words of flattery, exaggerating your virtue from impure motives. Neither false criticism nor words of flattery foster humility because they both have as their intention something other than the truth. Some holy souls may even seek to misrepresent the truth of who they are by either exaggerating their holiness or by misrepresenting their misery so as to gain the praise or sympathy of others. But, again, humility has as its goal the truth of who we are. Seek to know and believe the full truth of your life, and then seek to live that truth openly and honestly. This purity of intention will allow your true self to emerge, and through this humble act the Lord will shine forth from your soul (See Diary #1502-1503).
Ponder today the truth of who you are. Seek complete honesty in regard to your actions and your intentions. Understand yourself and seek to know yourself as God knows you. Doing this will foster great humility. As you grow in humility, see also the truth of God and His greatness. Humbly acknowledge all that God does for you. Seeing God at work within you and honestly expressing this with gratitude will allow Him to shine forth beautifully for all to see. This is truth and this is humility.
Lord, I desire to know the truth of who I am. I seek this truth and desire to allow it to shine forth with honesty and integrity. I pray also that I see Your greatness and acknowledge Your workings in my life. You are glorious, dear Lord. May this truth shine forth. Jesus, I trust in You." From https://divinemercy.life/2018/10/02/reflection-311-the-truth-of-humility-2/
Reflection by: Matthew Bensman
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