Humility! by Wayne Miller
Piety
Father God, thank you for always being
with me; for offering me Your eyes to see, Your ears to hear, Your heart to
feel, and Your voice to speak Love to my brothers and sisters. Also, for Your Forgiveness when I so
often forget that You are there.
My child, conduct your affairs with
humility, / and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. (Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29)
God,
in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor. (Psalm 68:(cf. 11b)
Brothers
and sisters, you have approached Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. (Hebrews 12:18…24a)
Take my yoke
upon you, says the Lord, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. (Matthew 11:29ab)
Jesus went
to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He told a parable to those
who had been invited. “…when you hold a
banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed
will you be because of their inability to repay you.” (Luke 14:1, 7-14)
Study
“Forgiveness,” as I understand Friar
Richard Rohr comes from the words “fore” and “give”; where “giving” is a total
selfless pouring out, and “fore” means that it is done freely and even before
we recognize the need or ask for it. Our Beloved Triune God is utter humility
because He exists in a constant state of fore-giveness, in me, beside me,
before and behind me; watching, knowing, loving, and accepting me as I am.
Sometimes, I know His presence and the
security that I am consciously acting as the vessel of His Love. Sometimes, I do
Love. Sometimes, I think I am the initiator, the creator, the actor. Sometimes,
I only do what I do because I want others – and God – to judge me worthy of
acceptance into that Eternal Relationship that awaits on the “other side.”
Friar Rohr would describe the latter as
“dualistic” (“transactional”) thinking: doing this because I will deserve a
reward. Even though the thing I do is “good,” my motivation is essentially
manipulative, expecting the outcome to be a “good” thing for me.
I believe that a truly non-dual humility
sees others, and my heart intuitively rushes to offer them, Love, desiring only
to help them know how perfectly lovable they are right now; and hopefully, to
diminish their suffering.
But whatever my motivation, our Triune
God is always there, fore-giving me and rejoicing when He sees me living His
Loving Humility.
Action
These thoughts so profoundly touch me. I am joyous at the realization that I am
always loved and fore-given by our Lord. And yet, my selfish, sarcastic nature
keeps getting mirrored back to me in the burdened hearts of those that I truly
desire to Love. Forgive me, Lord.
Thomas Merton was right:
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not
see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I
really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to
please you does, in fact, please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that
I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I
know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know
nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be
lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and
you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
Father God, give me the wisdom and humility to
think/feel/act with your fore-giving heart in all of my life: with the beloved
96-year-old and the tender, precious, aching heart of her caring daughter; with
the shocked and hurting son suffering vicious attacks in his personal life and
with the angry perpetrator who swore to love him for better or worse; and with
my Cursillo brothers, both my Team Mates and the men who will come seeking wisdom
and community with You.
Lord, help me not to miss the everyday opportunities
for humility.
Thank you for the wisdom of today’s scriptures, and
help me to be utterly thoughtless of the potential reward, seeing only Your
Loving Gaze in every face.
De Colores!
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