There was a story told a few years back about Our Lady. I have no idea if it is true or not but I often think about it and I have no doubt that the moral of the story is very true. A Parish priest and his parishioners travelled to Medugorje and when they returned to New York he had a reunion service for all in the parish who had been on pilgrimage. During the service he spoke about Our Lady and her relationship with Satan. the Secret of Our Lady's holiness, he said was that she refers everything back to God, giving him the glory. The secret of Satan's damnation, on the other hand is that he takes everything from God and steals it for himself. So that as Mary is humble and reflects Gods glory back to where it comes from Satan is a perfect darkness , taking in all the light and reflecting all back. It's said at this part of the sermon people heard a roar like thunder and all the lights in the Church went out. After the service was over and people went outside they found a large tree right outside the front doors of the Church had been hit by lightening and were a blackening smoking stump. At the very start of scripture we have an immediate description of the wear between Mary and Satan. Genesis 3:15 I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other. I will make your descendants and her descendant hostile toward each other. He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel." Satan and his legions cannot understand humility it is a foreign language a secret locked up against them for all eternity. Little wonder for humility is deeply mystical, a giving of self to God. The humble give off God light giving back to the giver. Satan is total dark and takes in without giving back. So for Mary so for her children. So for Satan so for his slaves. It is this lack of humilty that made Satan totally misinterpret and misunderstand the Incarnation and Christs role in it. His slave the Pharisees and Pharisees who could not understand either. this was no accident for as Jesus said: Matthew 1 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from wise and intelligent people and have revealed them to infants. Whereas if God were to permit Satan or his slaves to subsume God's glory for themselves God's justice would be overcome and God Himself would become dark as they themselves are darkness. But why then is this Secret so very,very important to us as children of Mary who walk in the light??/
Padraig, Humility is our path of accessibility to God. When we perceive our utter dependence on him and his unsurpassing invitation to sonship, we gain access to the light of his Presence. Once we begin to rank ourselves based on our relationship to others, pride holds sway. Ambition, envy, and maipulation then make their appearance. I believe Mary's Secret lies in the profound insight of her Immaculate Heart: My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior! Her eyes are ever focused upon the Almighty and never on a creature. She who is most pure and undefiled still humbly bends the knee to her Triune God! When she gazes on us it is with the maternal love that God has enriched her heart. Mary never succombs to the temptation of comparison which is the gateway to pride. When we walk in the footsteps of Our Lady, humility guards the doorway of our hearts. The snares, wiles and pomps of the Devil are rebuffed! Safe in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!
yes Terry I think in as much as we are humble, so much will we be holy...or to put it another way, inasmuch as we are empty so Gods grace shall fill us up. Thats why some folk walk in the paths of prayer and some take off at supersonic speed. Jesus commented on this, mentioning that the Kingdom of heaven was being taken by storm by sinners while the righteous hold back: Matthew: 12And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Also I think the parable of the house built on good foundations which survived the storm is another indication. The house is with a good foundation is the house with good humilty as its foundation: Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Yes Terry, Jesus showing the way... Philippians 2:8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
God bless you both for writing on this. I just had a little snafu with a dear friend and this was my confirmation in how I should handle it. God always has the answer if I'm willing to ask the question. Again, thank you my faith grows because of this forum. Lee
Hi Lee, I can't help thinking this forum for me has a real sense of the presence of Mary . This sense of Mary's presence has not declined with time, but rather grown. being on the forum has been a real source of encouragement and joy to me.. One of the many important things its taught me is how helpful to the Faith the Internet can be, that the internet is not just a toy. It reminds me too how we can really get to know our fellow Catholic Sisters and brothers and share with them on quite a deep level. So doing as Saint Paul suggests: 1 Thessalonians 5:11 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. The thing that initially made me think about humility was a grace I got shortly after my conversion. I was praying the First Joyful Mystery, 'The Annunciation' in my prison cell, and was picturing in my mind the Arcangel Gabriel appearing to Mary and Saying, 'Hail full of grace' . I though to myself that if Gabriel, even if he was a great arcangel saw Mary as I saw her , he would fall at once to his knees, overwhelmed at her holiness. But then I though to myself how Mary replied to the angel and was perplexed. For Mary described herself as a 'handmaiden' or a servant to God. I could not understand this, for certainly as I saw her, in full Glory, 'full of grace ' indeed; how could she describe herself as a servant?? It just did not seem possible to me. Then I thought, as many people think of humility that she was kind of pretendng or fooling herself into being or thinking of herself as being something she was not...or in otherwords being mistaken and thinking hereslf less than she was... But this answer did not satisfy me. Then the full devastating truth hit me, Our lady was telling the truth!! Everything she had came from God, she was simply acknowledging the truth. Then it hit me reallty hard and I thought to myself, 'Well you have seen Our lady, you have seen what she is like, how overwhelming, if SHE can say she is only a servant and the whole lot came from God; well what should you say who have only returned to the faith a couple of days ago?' ..and you know it has always seemed to me since then that Mary is the very touchstone of humilty, for think of all her titles. Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Queen of Angels, Mother of the Church...yet she keeps not of it not even a tiny drop for herself. Astonishing. ..and you know for we who follow Mary, this is maybe the true Marian characteristic. If you want to know if someone is really following Mary, ask this one question; are they humble? My soul glorifies the Lord, * my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour. He looks on his servant in her lowliness; * henceforth all ages will call me blessed. The Almighty works marvels for me. * Holy his name! His mercy is from age to age, * on those who fear him. He puts forth his arm in strength * and scatters the proud-hearted. He casts the mighty from their thrones * and raises the lowly. He fills the starving with good things, * sends the rich away empty. He protects Israel, his servant, * remembering his mercy, the mercy promised to our fathers, * to Abraham and his sons for ever.
I am always surprised how often the readings at mass tune into what happening in day to day life or thoughts. Todays first reading could not more clearly have been about humility: Philippians Chapter 2 5 Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, 1 6 Who, 2 though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. 3 7 Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; 4 and found human in appearance, 8 he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. 5 9 Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name 6 that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, 7 of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 8 to the glory of God the Father. I think basically with humility if God gave you the power to measure another person's humility you would be able at once to tell whether or not they were going to heaven or hell and not only that but their exact position in heaven or hell, so important and basic is humility. For,as I mentioned before God cannot give graces to people who would steal them by appropriating them to their own glory. Without the foundations the house cannot be built. I read a nice story about Padre Pio. About this time many people were selling pictures of Padre Pio down in San Giovanni, not only that but many people had aquuired relics of a him by foul means or foul and were claiming miracles from them even as Padre Pio was still alive!1 Not only that Padre Pio's reputation had spread throughout the whole world and folks were coming in their many thousands to see him. Anyway Padre Pio was talking to a young seminarian and the young man passed on a message from his Novice Master giving sympathy to Padre Pio abd saying how very difficult it must have been to retain humility in such extraordinary circumstances. Padre Pio looked startled and then burst out laughing, 'Ah these Novice Masters ,' he said shaking his head, 'Jesus well knows how to keep my feet on the ground!' The only way jesus can keep our feet on the ground is through humiliation and suffering. These are the salt that is sprinkled on our spiritual meat. Without these things our heads would swell up like a balloon and we would float away into outer space.Yes even the best of us. That is part of the reason why a great, well known living saint had such a terrible, terrible time of it from say, the Church powers that be,s, to keep his feet on the ground. Look at any of the Saints and you will see salt being sprinkled on them from all over the place. Saint Bernadette with her novice mistress, who never let up. Saint Therese of Liseaux whose Mother Superior never treated her as anything but a child. Saint Margaret Mary whose fellow sisters actually kicked her up and down the convent corridor. In Ireland the little green fields are often hedged round with thick blackthorn bushes, full of thorns. Jesus also places hedges round our souls to stop us wondering off into having high opinions of ourselves. These blackthorn bushes of humiliations which stab us and constantly irritate us are in fact our own great blessings from God. If such salt, the salt of humiliation was not part of our daily diet we would have really something to worry about. In fact..and I know it sounds strange to say this...the times I would really worry about on the spiritual path is when things are going well and I appear to be walking along some straight, golden road , for as Jesus warns us , its the straight, wide road that leads to hell. Its when I am in a blackthorn bush getting stung all over the place that I feel maybe things are going well. You can see this so clearly in the Life of Mary..with the sugar of joy the deep slat of suffering and humiliation. The greater the grace the greater the humiliation.It is as though it was some set law of the Spiritual Life, which maybe it is. For instance at the Annunuciation, the great joy of being the Mother of God is the huge blackthorn bush of how to break the news of her pregnancy to poor Joseph and others... At the great joy of the Birth of Christ comes the fact they've nowhere to stay and King Herod is trying to kill them all!! At the great Joy of the Presentation Mary gets the huge blackthorn bush of the fact that a 'Sword of Sorrow which will pierce her heart. Ot the same in our own lives. Were there is not the salt of Humiliation there is no spiritual growth. O would never pray for humiliation , I have not the courage, salt thrown into a wound hurts and can hurt very,very,very deeply. But its better than the soul killing poison of pride. Its a gift, it only we knew we would welcome it and kiss the wood of its cross....but its not easy, but then , if it was easy it wouldn't be much good, the salt would be insipid.
Padraig, Well said. Humiliation is so necessary for our salvation. Its a training for eternity if we could only see this when we are being humiliated. The ego is very strong and always battling for recognition. Our sins and failings can serve to keep us humble so God can draw goodness even from evil. In these times we are encouraged to be self assertive and proud of our achievements. Its much harder to accept that we are nobody without Gods grace. Going to confession helps. I think so many catholics now have a problem with confession because it is against the spirit of the age. It requires humility to admit we are sinners. Yet I notice at church cermonies such as weddings everybody goes to communion even though they live outside church requirements and probably havent been to confession for years. Then those of us who try to keep the commandments and attend to our faith also have to beware of becoming proud of that and ending up like the pharisees. It is beyond our human nature to not become proud of ourselves in some way so God has to intervene and send us humiliations daily in our work and our relationships. The saints constantly thanked God for all the thorns of misfortune such as illness, unsympathetic superiors and difficult spouses. Its good to be reminded of this. God bless Mary
You're right Mary humiliation is not easy and the first fruit of humility is obedience as Terry also said. Obedience is central to being a Catholic. I think so many people do not realise that they are no longer effectively Catholics because they have lost obedience. Spiritually they have become Protestants. To loose obedience is to loose peace. One of the first signs of the presence of Mary anywhere is humility and obedience and I think just about the greatest sign of the presence of Mary is that people go to confession in ever greater numbers, wherever she appears. I think I find as I get older humilty gets harder rather than easier. But meeting someone who is truly humble is a real revelation. One time many years ago I met a very saintly passionist lay brither called brother Martin..I think he is still alive. Even when Brother Martin was in the world and working in Guinesses brewry in Dublin the workers would naturally curb their very rough language in his presence. They knew that there was something very different about him , that he was very holy. I would say the thing that impressed me about him most was just this humility. In those far off days I was young and even more argumentative and opinionated even than i am now, especially about Irish history and politics. Anyway martin would not argue with me, though I dearly loved a row. he would just simply say, 'God does not want you to be like this , Padraig', when I made some very hate filled and bitter point. but one day particualry stands out. I gave poor martin a diatribe of politics and history and Brother Martin simply said, 'padraig you know much more about politics and history than I ever do. I just think from praying about it that your way is not the way Jesus wants you to walk'. I stared at him like a goldfish with my mouth open. He just totally disarmed me with his gentle humilty. But all these years later I recall him saying this, whereas, on the other hand if he had argued with me, well, it wouldjust have been grist to my very bitter mill. At the time Martins gentleness seemed so natural to me. But now , looking back down the years I realised he had to work very, very hard to keep his cool..to cooperate with grace. I think this meekness, this gentleness, this littleness is so much a sign of the presence of Mary. But more than that it is a great swird to pierce the hearts of awkward customers such as myself :lol: :lol:
