Monday Octubre 31, 2022

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DISCOVER TODAY: Humility is recognizing that God is in everything that’s good and holy.

Good News Reflection for:

Monday of the 31st Week of Ordinary Time
Octubre 31, 2022

Today’s Prayer:

Beloved Lord: Give me the humility and detachment I need to seek for the good of my neighbors, just for the sake of love waiting for nothing in return. Amen.

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Today’s Readings:

Philippians 2:1-4
Ps 131:1-3
Luke 14:12-14
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/103122.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2022-10-31-usccb-daily-mass-readings

Finding and plugging our pride-leaks

We’re humble enough to recognize that we have too much pride, aren’t we? Truly, you and I prefer to be humble and holy; that’s why we put so much effort into our spiritual growth. And yet (sigh), pride is everyone’s number one failing, isn’t it. Why can’t we get through just one day totally humble?

As soon as we think that we’ve overcome pride, it finds another way to leak out of us. We could humbly make a loving sacrifice by doing a good deed to someone and, when thanked for it, give the glory to God, but in the next moment pridefully “appreciate” the fact that we are more loving, i.e., “better”, than those who don’t do the same.

Sure, but don’t forget that humility includes being patient with ourselves as we find and plug our pride-leaks, one at a time, day after day. Humility grows; we can’t switch it on like a light bulb.

In today’s first reading, Saint Paul lists some of the harmful effects of pride: Rivalry and conceit cause division and disunity, breaking the bonds of love. And he names the cure: We must consider others as more important than ourselves. Keep in mind, please, that he’s not talking about an inferiority attitude, in which we lose sight of the equality of all people, including ourselves. It’s not humble to treat ourselves poorly. To do so is to mock the Father who created us, implying that he made a mistake with us.

Rather, Paul is showing us that when we rise above our selfishness to serve others, Christ’s love is at work in us, ministering to others through us, and we all feel better.

Jesus, too, gives us a cure for pride in the Gospel reading. When we give without expecting anything in return, we’re immersed in humility. We overcome pride by doing for others what they cannot do for us. Similarly, when others do good to us, pride insists that we reciprocate, but humility means accepting the gift as a free gesture of love.

Today’s responsorial Psalm gives us the key to humility: We can say, “O Lord, my heart is not proud” because, “In you, Lord, I have found my peace.” Humility is recognizing that God is in everything that’s good and holy. Humility says: “I am good and I do good because the Lord is good, and it is he who does good works in me and through me.” Pride, on the other hand, says, “Look at me! Look at what I’ve done!” Period.

Daily, we need to pray for the grace to find and plug our pride-leaks. If you can get to weekday Masses, you’ve got a built-in opportunity to plug holes every day, the Penitential Rite when we call to mind our sins and ask Mary and all the angels and saints and all of our brothers and sisters to pray for us. It’s one of the main reasons why I go to daily Mass.

© 2022 by Terry A. Modica

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