Strength of Humility - 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

A friend once told me that he could not memorize the prayer, Act of Contrition easily because of its length. He revealed that he finds it difficult to learn it by heart. So he inquired: “Father, is there a shorter form of the Act of Contrition?” “Yes,” I said “there is.” I told him to memorize this prayer: "O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” It is short but it strikes directly at the very heart of God because of its simplicity and candor. In fact, this prayer has been composed by Jesus himself.

Our Sunday Gospel reading (Lk 18:9-14) contains this prayer. Jesus narrates an episode in the Temple wherein two people prayed. The Pharisee’s prayer was arrogant, self-applauding and prideful. But the Tax Collector’s prayer was carefully chosen baring unashamedly the nakedness of his soul. Jesus concludes that this guy went home justified. The Tax Collector saw himself without merit, even unworthy. He just presented himself to the Lord, without deception or vanity, to be judged by Him. He knew he was mere dust and dirt.

In order to experience God’s mercy and compassion, we need to grow in humility. We have to pray for it and practice it. As we ask God to make us humble, we also need to change our mentality that humility is strength, not weakness. Humble people are grounded with a balance perception of themselves and of others. This trait allows them to be more resilient to stress and enables them to be more kind and generous. Most of all, the practice of humility makes them more conformed to Christ who humbled himself out of love and obedience to His Father's will. It is this aspect that makes humility powerful. Because like Christ, whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 

Prayer: Lord, teach me to have a realistic view of my life and my abilities; convince me that humility is a sure path to greatness. Amen. 

Spiritual Environment

I organized a Marian Pilgrimage this October. Jing Satuita wanted very much to go with her mother as pilgrims. In fact, it is one of her life’s bucket list. She desired so much to visit and pray at the famed Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima at Cova da Iria in Portugal.  It was also her yearning to touch the celebrated Massabielle Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in France where Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous and perhaps bathe of its miraculous waters. 

However, her biggest stumbling block was her application for visa to the Italian Embassy. When she presented all her documents, she was asked to return because they were not convinced that she had sufficient funds for the trip. Having acquired another bank certificate from Land Bank, it was blown away by the wind and lost it when she was about to submit it. But she never lost her patience. Most of all she never lost hope. She kept on praying. With deep trust, she surrendered her case to Our Blessed Mother. A week before the scheduled departure, together with her mom, she finally got her visa. It was an answered prayer!

Jesus teaches us, in today’s gospel reading, to pray unceasingly. Like the poor widow, we should never become weary or discouraged in our prayer. Despite its seeming futility, we must persist with a living faith. To pray without ceasing does not mean that we should have our heads bowed with eyes-closed posture all day long. Rather, it is an attitude of God-consciousness and God-surrender that we must have in our life. It is living with a conviction that God is with us and He is deeply concerned with our well-being. As St. Augustine said: “work as though everything depended on you; pray as though everything depended on God.” We need to enter into this spiritual environment where God’s presence makes a big difference in our life. 

Prayer: Lord, give me a greater awareness of your presence that I may trust myself into your loving and powerful hands. Amen.