1744AFC110314 – Easy Does It – NOT!
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Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Thank you for your patience this week. With my monitor out, it was difficult to do any research or writing. Let’s begin right away with our key passage:
Matthew 23:11-12 – 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Although we hear this passage frequently, when we hear it we don’t really listen to it. We know that Christ expects us to be humble. We accept that intellectually, but as a practical matter we usually don’t do too well in fulfilling this command. Sometimes, we manage to “fake” being humble by being self-deprecating. This is most definitely not what Jesus asked us to do. God created us in his image and in his likeness. God does not make junk! We cannot call ourselves junk without failing to recognize this important fact: We are wonderfully made. As the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 139:14 – 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
When we look into our past, way back to Eden, we remember how the Serpent deceived Eve lied to that Father of Lies when she said in Genesis 3:2-3 – 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” God only said not to eat of that tree; he said nothing about touching it. This is a reflection of the same sin that Lucifer committed: PRIDE. Eve’s pride prompted her to believe that she could be equal to God – as did Lucifer. As we learned in our 2016 Lenten Series, The 7 Deadly Sins and Their Corresponding Virtues, Pride and Humility are opposites. What it boils down to (and what it’s always about) is choice. We choose between sin and virtue. We can work on being humble or we can just wallow in our Pride. What does it take to be humble, anyway?
Thomas À Kempis put it this way in The Imitation of Christ – Study to do another’s will rather than thine own. Choose ever to have less rather than more. Seek ever the lower place and to be subject to all; ever wish and pray that the will of God may be perfectly done in thee and in all. Behold such a man enters the bounds of peace and calm. Like I am always saying, “It’s a choice given to us through the gift of free will.”
There is a wonderful litany which is (incorrectly) attributed to Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X called The Litany of Humility . This short spiritual exercise, when prayed in earnest, is a good daily reminder of the many things we can set aside that will help us learn the value and power of humility. The original author of the Litany of Humility is that famous writer and poet, Author Unknown. I recall a little vignette in which a clergyman decided to work of each of the Seven Virtues for a year at a time so that he could master each. He decided to begin with Humility. After the passage of many years, he confessed that he had still not mastered it. But he never gave up trying!
It seems that is the only way to get there – keep trying! Here are some other reminders:
Psalm 10:17 – 17 O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek; you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
Proverbs 16:19 – 19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit among the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. Proverbs 29:23
Proverbs 29:23 – 23 A person’s pride will bring humiliation, but one who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
Matthew 18:4 – 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 14:8-11 – 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
There are at least as many places in the Bible where we learn how much God loves us and is hoping we will love him in return, he gives us everything we need to be humble, to be happy, and to be his! Think about these things:
Psalm 8:4-6a – 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? 5 Yet you have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
Isaiah 49:15 – 15 Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
John 3:16-17 – 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Ephesians 2:4-7 – 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Revelation 4:11 – 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
2 Chronicles 7:12-14 – 12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
1 Peter 5:5-6 – 5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”* 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. * (See Psalm 138:6 and Proverbs 3:34)
James 4:10 – 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
St. Augustine wrote “Humility is the foundation of all the virtues; therefore, in a soul where it does not exist there can be no true virtue, but the mere appearance only. In like manner, it is the most proper disposition for all celestial gifts. And, finally, it is so necessary to perfection, that of all the ways to reach it, the first is humility; the second, humility; the third, humility. And if the question were repeated a hundred times, I should always give the same answer.”
Like the cleric who humbled himself by realizing he was a failure at being humble, and like the writer of the Litany of Humility who faded from the view of the world, let’s just keep trying, fully aware that it is not easy, but also fully aware that the effort is worth it, win or lose.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Belovéd!
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
