Humility a Virtue to Grow

From our Spiritual Advisor: 

We are called to witness Christ to others and bring them into relationship with Him.  More specifically, we are called to make a friend, be a friend and bring a friend to Christ.  If we want to succeed at that, we must be focused on Jesus and others and less on ourselves.  That means we need to continually be working on the virtue of humility. 

In one of the Sunday gospels just before Easter, we heard the story of the Pharisees who were intending to stone a woman who had been discovered in adultery.  In their lack of virtue and prideful, judgmental perspective, this was the only thing to do.  Their hearts of poison and narrow, arrogant attitudes caused them to judge others but blind to their own sinfulness and arrogant behavior.  Jesus taught them a lesson by telling them that whoever was sinless among them should cast the first stone.  As we know, they dropped the stones and walked away.  And Jesus, showing how He desires us to live, forgave her.  God is love and mercy. 

All of humanity has a large disfigurement from birth called original sin.  It causes us to have something very ugly – human pride.  It is the most fundamental of sins and the mother of all vices.  It feeds all other sins, worst among them being envy and pride.  We need to seek virtue and work daily to rid ourselves of these sins, or our pride will ultimately destroy our spiritual lives, and eventually bar us from eternity in heaven with the Holy Family. 

Pride is the most horrible of human vices and inherently against of human nature of God given goodness and ultimately makes us anti-human and destroys our souls.  It blinds us and fools us into thinking we are above God and all others.  If we want to grow in holiness, we must start by working to eliminate self-pride. 

This is a spiritual improvement project that we must all work on.  Continuously.  When you recognize this in yourself (we all have it), pray about it and seek God’s help.  He is always there to assist you in seeking virtue.  Pray the Litany of Humility often.  The Holy Spirit works powerfully through that prayer.  Do not always look to be first.  Look for ways to serve others.  Be extra patient with others.  Examine your thoughts and actions daily before bedtime, looking especially for that behavior in your life that day.  Go to confession often. 

Most of all, remember always that God created us, loves us and in His endless, tender mercy, forgives us if we but ask Him.  His spirit is always there to assist us as we seek to grow in His likeness. 

DeColores,  

Deacon Denny Scherger, Cursillo 115