Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear Friends,
Today's Gospel passage speaks about the virtue of humility and giving without expecting anything in return. While praying with these words, I felt that God was reminding me of the countless ways I have received the generosity of my family, friends and even strangers at times. I am inspired to be generous to others because of the witness of others. This Scripture reminds me of the verse from Luke 6:32 - "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them". Jesus is constantly challenging us to go beyond our comfort zone and take another step in our journey towards charity.
One aspect of our relationship with God that I truly value is His gentle encouragement to continue growing and becoming more of our authentic selves. He loves us and accepts us as we are. He also slowly and gently prompts us to move in the direction of growth. This often involves going beyond the comfortable or familiar. Let us pray for openness to the Holy Spirit and the docility to follow these promptings!
This Gospel also instructs us in the virtue of humility. Humility and docility are very closely related! Jesus tells us to take the lowest place so that others may hold a higher esteem. This is an important invitation to acknowledge our own value and worth while also admiring and praising the virtues of others. Philosopher Josef Pieper says that "Humility is man's estimation of himself according to truth". A prayer that I find helpful for this particular virtue is: "Lord, help me to see myself the way that you see me". Humility is often referred to as the queen of all virtues because it dictates the disposition of all other virtues. I’ll conclude with a few lines from the Litany of Humility that I invite you to include in your prayer this week:
From the fear of being despised,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
That others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
God Bless You!
- Amy Burghardt, Development Manager
