14th Sunday Year A - Humility

 

The first reading and the Gospel both speak of humility. The first reading prophesied a king who will come riding in humility on a donkey, not on a camel nor a horse used by the wealthy, but a donkey used by the poor. The prophet Zechariah speaks about the humility of a king, who has power and authority and yet rides on the humble animal of a donkey. Jesus fulfilled this prophesy when He rode a donkey into Jerusalem as the people laid palm branches before Him saying, “Blessed is the King, who comes in the name of the Lord.”

In the Gospel, Our Lord said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Jesus wants His disciples, including us-- to learn to have a meek and humble heart.

Humility is truth. But pride reveals the hidden desires of the heart that cause a distortion of that which is true about our self and others. It’s an exaggerated view of our self and our needs. The truth is Jesus is God and He humbled Himself by taking upon our human nature. He appeared only to be human, but His personhood was God.

St. Paul said to the Philippians, “Though Jesus was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

The Litany of Humility manifests the wrong ways of thinking that can lead to pride and by praying to be delivered of these ways, the Lord will give us the gift of that which is true—humility of heart.

And so let us pray for the gift of humility.

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

Your response is “Deliver me, Jesus”

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 ...

Now your response is, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.

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…

Today, let us choose to pray every day for the gift of humility and trust God will give us a heart meek and humble, in imitation of the Heart of Jesus, so we may echo the words of Mary, who said, “He will cast down the mighty and lift up the lowly.” And recognize all good things come from God, and not attribute them to our self, as Mary said, “He who is mighty has done great things for me.”