Fr Antonio Pineda
ne of my favourite quotes from St Augustine is when he was asked to name the three most important virtues, he answered: first, humility; second, humility; and third, humility.
Nothing pleases God more than humility; he longs to find it in us. In fact, humility is the unifying idea behind the eight Beatitudes—listed in this Sunday’s Gospel—which summarise Jesus’ teaching about how to live. Looking carefully, we see a common denominator: the person who is blessed is the person who is not thinking about himself all the time. Let’s see …
- The poor in spirit and those who suffer persecution gracefully realise that they are not the centre of the universe – God is.
- The clean of heart realises that other people don’t exist just for the sake of his pleasure.
- The peacemaker is concerned about the needs and problems of others.
- The merciful is concerned about the suffering of others.
- The mournful is concerned about the damage his sin does to the Church, the world, and other people.
- The meek cares more about getting things done than getting credit for doing things.
- Those who hunger for righteousness realise that their life has a higher purpose, that it’s part of a bigger story.
Underlying all the Beatitudes is this fundamental attitude that puts God and others ahead of self. It looks out at the world instead of staring in, fixated on self. This is humility, the bedrock of basic human maturity. God loves this humility because it opens the soul to receive his gifts. In contrast, the arrogant soul is closed in on itself. No one can get in, not even God who wants to deliver his gifts. This is why the First Reading shows God praising “the humble and lowly” and exhorting us to “Seek the Lord… seek humility”.
As with all virtues, we grow in humility by exercising it. There is no better way to exercise humility than to go to confession regularly and frequently. You see, confession makes absolutely no sense for the arrogant. The arrogant deceive themselves into thinking that if they aren’t axe murderers or suicide bombers, they’re really pretty close to being a saint. But the saints are the ones who use confession the most! Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta went to confession every week.
The Bible assures us that even the righteous man stumbles seven times a day. God knows that we are constantly battling against sin and so and he instituted the sacrament of confession for our sake, to give us an objective way to repent, to receive his forgiveness, and to attain strength from his grace to keep fighting and improving.
Humility, humility, and humility.