HUMILITY
Tuesday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
“Your attitude must be Christ’s attitude: Though he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.”
Paul gives us all something important to remember as we go out and vote for the 2020 United States presidential election. The Son of God left heaven and all of its happiness and glory to become one of us, not to lord it over us, but to help us reach the fulfillment of our dreams.
It’s not easy for a prince to play the part of a pauper. It’s not easy to keep from reminding people how smart we are, how rich we are, how talented we are, how great we are.
One of the steps to sainthood is keeping yourself from talking about one of your own achievements in life after listening to someone telling us about his. Sometimes those “who have” would like to impress others “who have not”; sometimes those “who have not” would like to talk about the days when they had it all. We want others to be aware of our importance. So, we remind them in some blunt or roundabout way.
Jesus didn’t become loved because he was king of heaven or because he was God’s Son. He even tried his best to keep people from discovering who he was. Jesus became loved by many because he became one of them, because he showed his concern for those who no one else cared about, because he did not condemn anyone.
Jesus did not have an attitude of “better than you,” of “holier-than-thou.” He used his superior abilities and powers to lift others up. He didn’t brag about himself; he didn’t promote himself as being more deserving of better treatment than anyone else. The Son of God became a human being to show us how to become one too. May we all learn how to grow in that humble attitude of Jesus Christ!
