MY daily reflection and prayer:
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
Dear my friends,
Here is the Gospel for us today according to St. Matthew 23: 1-12
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
***
IN the Gospel reading today Jesus Christ says, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
It’s a matter of being humble as Jesus himself. He has practiced what he said. It’s easy to say about being humble but it is much harder to give witness of an authentic humility. Jesus has humbled himself through his cross: his suffering and death; and God the Father has exalted him through his resurrection and his ascension to heaven.
Trully, only the humble humankind can be truly in contact with God and let God’s grace work miracles in his/her life. St. Bernard of Clairvaux compared the humble man to the valley below of a snow-capped mountain at the beginning of spring and the proud man to the top. The melting snow, which is God’s grace, cannot flow upwards to the proud man. In his attitude he has put himself in a position in which he is incapable of receiving God’s grace.
On the other hand, the humble man/woman, fully receives the water of God’s grace, since he/she is at the bottom of the mountain. Then (s)he can bear abundant fruit in his/her life.
In the Perpetual Adoration of the Eucharist while adoring Jesus Christ we learn to be humble. To be truly humble, it is necessary to strive to think, want, desire and love as Jesus did. Do we want to be humble like him?
Let’s pray: Lord Jesus Christ, we believe in you because you has humbled yourself and become man in order to reveal the Father’s merciful love and the way your followers should live. We love you because you died in order to give us life. Help us to grow in our humility by adoring you faithfully now and forever. Amen.
Kredit foto: Ilustrasi (Ist)
