PRIDE vs HUMILITY - Day 7

<sup>Words of Our Savior:

Luke 17:7-10</sup>

 "Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?  Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

Second Letter to My Dearest Friend

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for this day.

Thank you for creating me: You called me into existence and are the reason for my very breath. I am nothing without You. I know that fully.

Please forgive me for all the times that I thought I knew better than You and acted against Your will for me. Forgive me for all the times I treated others wrongfully, because I thought my existence, my needs were more important than Your call for me to serve instead of being served. 

Jesus, You created me for a reason, a reason that I am not aware of. You thought it good to create me and to sustain me despite all my sins. Please let me know how to serve You.

Help me to know how to respond to Your call. I no longer recognize Your voice because it is a whisper and I have deafened my own ears with my own deadly noise. Please restore my hearing.

Please help me to see You. I deadened my sight, by refusing to look at You and instead gazed upon that which was bad for me. Please heal my eyes; please allow me to see Your face.

Please heal my hands. Prepare them to serve you. I injured them when I did evil works instead of the good that You created me for. I want everything I touch to glorify You.

Please heal my voice. I want to only speak in kindness and in truth. Do not let vileness come from my mouth.

Please heal my mind. Cleanse my from all evil thoughts, imaginations and desires.

Please heal my will. I want to say "yes" to You always.

Jesus, please bless all those who are aware of my existence. Please bless all those whose lives my life has affected, if even only for a moment. If someone noticed me in a parking lot, on a street, or even one who stumbles on my blog, or noticed me in any other way, I ask You to bless them more than You bless me.  Jesus, please especially forgive and pour out You grace and mercy on all those who I have slighted, offended or in anyway hurt. Please bless those whom I love.  Jesus, please consider all these people that have been in my life, or even momentarily aware of my existence. Please heal all these souls from their wounds, and free them from whatever blocks them from committing their life to You.

Jesus, my life is Yours to do with what You will.  Help me to not waste a single moment. Let all my moments be with You and for You. I love You.

Can one person make a difference?

YES!!!

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

– Ghandi

All you have to do is be the best version of yourself.

If you want to see love in the world...then love. 

If you want to see service...then serve.

If you want there to be peace... then forgive all those who have wrong you.

If you want to see an end to hunger and poverty... then share your food and possessions.

The Violet & the Servant

"Be like the violet, which blossoms unseen. This modest little flower grows in the midst of the loftier plants which surround it, being itself unheeded and unknown, Charming indeed it is in its robe of purple; delightful is the fragrance it diffuses; yet it knows not that it is so sweet and fair. Do you resemble this flower? The more firmly this tendency to pride is implanted by nature in the heart of woman, the more edifying and meritorious it is when she, with the aid of divine grace, fights against the tendency and gradually eradicates it, planting in its stead the fragrant violet of humility, causing it to take root to flourish and blossom. The violet of humility is indeed one of the fairest ornaments of woman, and of the young girl more especially. "- Father Lasance, The Catholic Girl's Guide 

Now He told a parable to those who were invited, when He marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, "When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent guest than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say 'go up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted."- Luke  14:7-11

“Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.” - St. Augustine

I have been reflecting on humility for seven days now...

Observations thus far:  
1) it is not placing yourself above others; 
2) it has the characteristics of a violet: pleasant, small, and unheeded; 
3) it is the precursor for other virtues;  
4) it serves others. 

Reflection on myself for today: Have I exulted myself above those in all my interactions?  Were my actions, words or thoughts humble?  Did I have a pleasant demeanor?  Did I make a big deal out of insignificant things?  Who did I serve today?  Was I Christ to anybody?  Or did I expect to be served?

The Resurrection - A Reason to Overcome Suffering

Today is the most glorious feast of the Resurrection.

    

"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will tell of all thy wonderful deeds. 

I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High." 

- Psalms 9:1-2

Of all of Our Lord's deeds, His Resurrection is His most glorious.  However, His Resurrection only could come after the intense suffering that afflicted all of our Lord's body, senses, emotions and being. There was not one part of Him that did not suffer.

"In His head He suffered from the crown of piercing thorns; 
in His hands and feet, from the fastening of the nails; 
on His face from the blows and spittle; and from the lashes over His entire body. 
Moreover, He suffered in all His bodily senses:
 in touch, by being scourged and nailed;
 in taste, by being given vinegar and gall to drink; 
in smell, by being fastened to the gibbet in a place reeking with the stench of corpses, 
"which is called Calvary"; 
in hearing, by being tormented with the cries of blasphemers and scorners;
 in sight, by beholding the tears of His Mother and of the disciple whom He loved." 

- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theolgica

He also suffered from abandonment, betrayal, false accusations, sadness, weariness, humiliation and fear.  Generally speaking He endured every suffering that we can experience.  He chose to go through the pain we are experiencing in order to not only redeem us, but to also show us how to deal with suffering. Good can come out of every wound and hurt, if we just give our sufferings to Him.  One day in God's timing, we will be relieved of this suffering; we will understand why it was necessary.  

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, 
and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ 
in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church" 

- Colossians 1:24

The Resurrection is the manifestation that good things will come.  Consequently, we must look to Him in all things and endure our sufferings with a thankful heart. "Not my will, but Thy Will".

 

"And He said to all, "If any man would come after me, 
let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 
For whoever would save his life will lose it; 
and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it." 

- Luke 9:23-24