A BIRTH
UNNOTICED
“She brought
forth a son, her first born,
whom she wrapped in his swaddling-clothes,
and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the
inn.” (Lk 2:7)
Jesus, Mary,
Joseph
EFFECTIVENESS
OF HUMILITY
“From that
first day
when you resolved to humble yourself before
God,
the better to understand,
your words
have been heard.” (Dan 10:12)
“The donkey
could do a thousand jobs,
so useful was
he with his humility.”
(St Josemaría,
Ut iumentum, IV)
“After his
turns at the wheel,
or whenever the master ordered,
the poor beast would be released from his
harness
to carry a good-sized load
from one place to another.
The quality of
the load that had to be carried didn’t matter,
since the
donkey, as soon as he felt the weight,
always did his best.
Determined and
diligent, without rocking from one side to the other,
the good beast
never let the load fall to the ground,
contented, without a whim.” (St Josemaría,
Ut iumentum, IV)
“Exinanivit semetipsum, formam servi
accipiens.” (Phil 2:7)
PRAY FOR
HUMILITY
“Let us ask the Lord for the virtue of humility,
for genuine self-knowledge,
for genuine self-surrender,
for that giving of ourselves to
God and,
for love of God, giving of
ourselves to the others,
without making a fuss of the
service we do,
which [service] is always little now matter how much we try
because we receive more.” (St
Josemaría)
BUT BE READY FOR IT
“For gold is tested in the fire,
and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.” (Sir 2:5)
HUMILITY IS IN THE DETAILS
“…an equal readiness to do little things for God
as to do great things for him.
The test of the sincerity of our devotion to God
is found in our willingness to
serve him in little things.
There the motive can only be supernatural;
in big things the motive may be sheer self-seeking.
This view means an end to the deliberate search
for self-satisfaction in God’s
service.
It means that we realize that it is God who should be satisfied.
‘I always do the things that please him’ (Jn 8:29).”
(E Boylan, The Spiritual Life of the Priest, 72)
AREAS WHERE HUMILITY THRIVES
Piety
Rectitude of Intention
Sincerity
Spirit of Service
SIMPLE BUT EXPRESSIVE WORDS
“I’m sorry.” (“By knowing how to acknowledge their failings to their
children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them.” (CCC 2223))
“I made a mistake.”
“Thank you.”
HUMILITY IS ON CALVARY
“If we are men of faith
and have the mind of Christ,
we shall readily believe that we probably do more for souls
when on the cross of frustration,
than we are on the Thabor of sensible success.
No one can question our Lord’s zeal for souls;
yet he spent thirty years in obscurity in Egypt and Nazareth
and let his active life be cut short
by the shameful Crucifixion.”
(E Boylan, The Spiritual Life of the Priest, 72)
MEEKNESS
“Learn of me because I am meek and humble of heart.” (Mt 11:29)
Meekness: the virtue by which one is enabled
to master everything that falls
under the heading of ‘anger’.
Meekness gives the power
to restrain,
to dominate,
to channel
every kind of irritation, many times caused by some little
hurt to our pride, or
wound to our ego.
“A bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.” (Is 42:1-4)
Remember: the adulterous woman; or the thief on the cross
LIKE A MULE
“Soy una mula, mi Niño, mi
Niño,
pero te quiero, te quiero.
Cógeme de las orejas,
dame un beso y otro beso,
que yo no quiero besarte
que tendrás miedo.”
LITANY OF HUMILITY
“O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved,
of being extolled, …honored,
…praised, …
preferred to others,
…consulted,…approved.
From the fear of being humiliated, …despised, …suffering rebukes, …
calumniated, …forgotten,
…ridiculed, …wronged, …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 become holier
than I,
provided that I may become
as holy as I should.”
(Card Merry del Val)
C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\RETREAT\crt_09Nativity&Humility.rtf
Revised 24 March 2005