Today the Litany of Humility is heavy on my mind. I used to read it every morning and along with the Volumes, it changed my heart. I have slacked in reading it lately and occasionally glance at it posted on the cork board at my desk. It's easy to lose yourself in all your insecurities, forgetting to remember Our Humbled Jesus. Can you imagine if He was an ordinary man with people plotting to kill Him? I think I'd be a little paranoid . . . fearful. Yet Jesus continued on with His mission, knowing the only way to bring God's children back to Him was through compassion and forgiveness. And, teaching people not to judge the sins of another. So, who is the greater sinner? The murderer or the adulterer? The liar or Pharisee-like behavior? The answer is, we are all sinners who must work on ourselves until the day we die. And, admit we are all imperfect just trying to make our way to heaven.
Todays Gospel (Luke 13:1-9) shows us how Jesus teaches the people to work on themselves first and stop looking for others with greater sins:
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener,‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”
In Anne a lay apostle's book Climbing the Mountain, she encourages us to stop looking for ways to make ourselves more important than service to others:
"Yes, we are all guilty of self-inflicted and enjoyable martyrdom at some time and that is why we must look closely and identify this as a trap that can turn us into a Pharisee. Some will cook and clean simply as a reproach to others, to hold themselves above others. They use their service as evidence of their holiness, and not contenting themselves with this mistake, they use their service further as evidence that others are unholy. Oh, dear. This is all wrong. It is far better, my fellow apostle, if we remain in the celebration and leave the service to others if our motives are those of self-promotion."
Lay apostles, it's really hard for me at times, even after being a part of this mission for ten years, to remember the importance of humility . . . to stay focused on improving myself instead of placing high expectations on others to feel the same way I do. It's time to begin reading the Litany of Humility on a daily basis again, along with daily reading of the Volumes and prayer. It really does make a huge difference in how you react to certain situations. So, here it is for you to copy and print for daily reading if you choose:
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled…
From the desire of being honored…
From the desire of being praised…
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted…
From the desire of being approved…
From the fear of being humiliated…
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes…
From the fear of being calumniated…
From the fear of being forgotten…
From the fear of being ridiculed…
From the fear of being wronged…
From the fear of being suspected…
That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I…
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase
and I may decrease…
That others may be chosen and I set aside…
That others may be praised and I unnoticed…
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should…
Thank you, Lord, for reminding me about the importance of humility and nudging me to add the Litany of Humility back into my daily reading!
God bless,
Bonnie
No comments:
Post a Comment