Humility

“And Mary said, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour…’” (Luke 1:46-47).

Suffering Christ (Victor Joseph Gatto)

The other day someone said to me that I owed them a certain thing because of the success I had achieved in my life.

Now, I am a very hard worker.  I am not the most clever or the most capable or the most confident.  But I am a very hard-working little soul.  My donkey-like soul is very good at pushing and pushing and pushing despite all the odds and making sure that I am able to push until there is no other way to push on.  And this determination is something that I believe has been instrumental in my success – and the success of others who adopt the same approach – throughout my life.

This means that when a person tries to “take credit” so to speak for my success, it is trigger that causes me to “flare up” in a way because I am confronted by the unfair reality that the hard work that I have put into the task is somehow being dismissed.  And so, when this person told me that I had a debt to them I was quite riled up and even – hurt – by the implication that I had not achieved this success on my own.

And after a good night’s sleep – and some much needed perspective – it occurred to me that I really have taken – albeit unconsciously – a very evil perspective on this.  You see, nothing that I have or do is a credit to me or to my own work.  And everything that I have achieved in my life is the result of what my God has allowed me to achieve – through NO MERIT of my own.  And in the cold light of day it occurs to me that when that person asked for my gratitude, it was not their humanity asking of that from me, but God in their soul.  They were Christ disguised in human form twenty centuries after His life death and resurrection…

And it occurred to me that I have sinned the sin of Pride.  You see, humility in theory looks like staring God Himself in the eye and giving Him credit.  But in reality, it is allowing a million other people to take credit for the various successes and gifts of my life because I am able to see the Divinity of God inside each of their souls.

Perhaps this moment of annoyance was for me a reminder of my own worthlessness?  Perhaps it is God’s reminder to me that the Blessed Virgin responded to the Angel, “And Mary said, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour…’” (Luke 1:46-47).

And I just wonder today if I shall ever have the ability to magnify they Lord, or if I shall spend my earthly life patting myself on the back and taking credit for every good gift of God – whether I deserve it or not…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.