Humility is a virtue we all struggle to obtain. Its opposite, pride, is the fundamental flaw
of all human beings. Just consider the beginning of Genesis and the story of the
first sin. There is a far deeper element to the story of original sin than the
mere decision of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. This was the fruit of
the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
If they ate this fruit, they would experience evil. But Adam and Eve decided that they were not
going to be told what to do or not do by God. The serpent said to them, “Eat
this and you will be like God.” He appealed to their pride. They didn’t eat the apple because they were
hungry and there was nothing else to eat. They ate the apple because they
decided that they did not need God. The original sin of mankind was
disobedience occasioned by pride. We have to make war on our own pride. When we think about it, all of our sins are
rooted in our own pride. There is that “nobody is going to tell me what to do,”
element of every sin, the expression of pride. “You gotta problem with that,”
the sinner says be he or she a bully, an adulterer or what have you. They are
really not just saying that to their victims or to society; they are saying
that to God. Pride manifests itself when we are concerned about our status in
this or that group, at work, in the neighborhood, at school, etc. Sometimes we ask in exasperation, “Who does
he think he’s talking to?” Well, who do
we think that we are? We forget that we
are nothing without God, and everything only because of God. We need
humility. We need people of humility to
show us how to live in proper relationship to God. We have been given many great examples. We
have particularly been blessed with the experience of our two last popes. Pope
Francis, seriously, is a man of humility.
He knows his position before God is Vicar of Christ and, as we have
learned, he protects his office, refusing to let others run the Church around
him. Many bishops and cardinals are still not happy in the way he runs the Church.
He protects the papacy, but when it comes to himself as the pope, he is
extremely humble. Pope Francis doesn’t live in the Apostolic Palace. He lives
with the priests working in the Vatican.
His apartment is one of the rooms available for any of the Vatican
clergy. He takes his meals as one of the
many who line up for the buffet. Can you
imagine being on line for lunch, turning around, and there is the Pope on line
behind you? That is exactly what is happening most days at Casa Santa Martha. When
it comes to himself, Pope Francis is a humble man before the Lord. After he
became Pope, a reporter asked him, “Who is Jorge Bergoglio?” The Pope simply responded, “A sinner.” Many more things could be said about our dear
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. I would like to mention only one. Having publicly
acknowledged that he no longer had the strength to stay in Peter's ministry,
and to have renounced to stay in power, it was a huge lesson in humility for
all of us. We were invited to do the same: to recognize our limits, to value well,
our abilities, and let others take our positions when it is no longer possible,
for whatever reason, to carry them out... [1]Who
are you, who am I before the Lord? We
are sinners in continual need of God’s mercy. The words that we speak
immediately before communion are not just a prayer formula, but an expression
of whom we are: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but
only say the word and my soul shall be healed[2].” We are not looking for the best seats in the
banquet hall of the Lord. We are humbled
that we have been invited to the meal. We end the Eucharistic Prayer of the
Mass with the proclamation of where all glory and honor belong: “through Him
and with Him and in Him, O God almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, all glory and honor are yours forever and ever”[3].
The prophet Micah wrote: “You have been told, O Man what the Lord requires of
you: only to do right, to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God[4].” We don’t need to be full of ourselves. We can
fight off the pride that ruins our lives. We can be humble. Perhaps sometimes,
you feel, perhaps sometimes, I feel, “I am not good enough--not good enough as
a husband or wife, as a parent, as a priest, whatever” When we feel this way,
we are right, and we are wrong. By
ourselves, we are never good enough. That would be pride. But we are not by
ourselves. We have the Lord. Or, better, He has us. And it is the Lord who
makes us good enough, good enough to do the work of His Kingdom. Let us save
tome time today to get our conversation with Jesus and let us ask him for the
courage we need to embrace our true dignity and walk humbly with our God. And
also let us invoke the name and intercession of Mary. She, the most important
and perfect woman in the universe, introduces herself as "the handmaid of
the Lord[5]."
May she intercede for us and help us calmly meditate on the importance of
humility in our lives • AE
[1] The book
entitled "Last Testament. On his own words” which is a conversation
between Pope Benedict XVI and the German journalist Peter Seewald helps to
understand very well that important moment that was his resignation from
Peter's Primate. It can be found on Amazon: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B01L2MWLME&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_Z-UyDb2B0J673
[2] Cfr. Matthew 8:8.
[3] Doxology of the mass. The word “doxology” comes from
the Greek “doxa” which means “glory”. Doxology, therefore, means glorification.
[4] Cfr. Micah 6:8.
[5] Cfr. Luke 1: 38.
* The zucchetto is a silk cap that the pope, bishops and some ecclesiastics carry to cover their heads. They only take it away from God, that is, before the Blessed Sacrament, or during Mass from the Preface until after the Communion. The bishops and cardinals take it off in the presence of the pope as a symbol of deep respect, as one who takes off his hat when greeting another person. It is very similar to the kipá, the hat that the Jews use in their ceremonies. The photo above reflects the moment in which Pope Francis approaches to greet Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, and he immediately removes the zucchetto in a sign of respect and deep reverence in the presence of the successor of St. Peter.
* The zucchetto is a silk cap that the pope, bishops and some ecclesiastics carry to cover their heads. They only take it away from God, that is, before the Blessed Sacrament, or during Mass from the Preface until after the Communion. The bishops and cardinals take it off in the presence of the pope as a symbol of deep respect, as one who takes off his hat when greeting another person. It is very similar to the kipá, the hat that the Jews use in their ceremonies. The photo above reflects the moment in which Pope Francis approaches to greet Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, and he immediately removes the zucchetto in a sign of respect and deep reverence in the presence of the successor of St. Peter.
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