Think of Yourself Less

A reflection for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A. The readings are  Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13; Psalm 146; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 and Matthew 5:1-12a

I was at a funeral recently and you know how at funerals they always remember the best of the person who has died. They’ll say that they are generous, kind, fun. No one will ever say at a funeral, that the person who died was arrogant and proud, right? Because arrogance and pride are not good qualities and we know that. So it’s good to know that God, in the readings today, is telling us the same thing. The Christian life is not the “lives of the rich and famous”. The Christian life is the life of the lowly and humble.

In the first reading, from the prophet Zephaniah, we are told to be humble. Humility is a good quality. In fact, we are told that God left us a people – the remnant of Israel—who were humble and that humility would be rewarded. St. Paul is a bit more direct. He tells the Corinthians that they are nothing. They weren’t smart, they weren’t rich, they weren’t powerful – not before God chose them and they were baptised. He’s really reminding them that without God we are nothing. And that is really what humility is all about. If you look up humility in the dictionary it will say something about being modest, even putting yourself down. But that’s not humility. Humility is being real. It’s not inflating your qualities or exaggerating them – that’s arrogance. But it’s also not demeaning yourself. That’s false humility. St. Therese said that “humility is truth”. That’s what humility is, being true to who you really are. It means being down to earth. That’s what the word means. It comes from the Greek “humus”. It means “earth”. If you want to understand the meaning of humus (not the delicious dip), think “compost”. That should keep you grounded. We are compost. But not because we are worthless. In the Christian sense, humidity means, acknowledging that we are nothing without God. A few weeks ago we were hearing about John the Baptist. The hallmark of John the Baptist is that he says, “that I will decrease, so that He may increase.”

We lower ourselves so that God may be lifted up. C.S Lewis said that humility is not thinking less of yourself; humility is thinking of yourself less. And that’s it. We think of ourselves less so that we can think of God more. We step aside from ourselves, so we can have a better look at who God is.

And that is what the Beatitudes are all about. I once heard a translation of the first beatitude – “blessed are the poor in spirit” – I don’t even know if it’s a good translation, but I like it – it’s, “blest are they who know their need for God.” That’s what being “poor in spirit” means: “know that you need God. That’s what the Beatitudes are about: About knowing our need for God. They are not just about being humble, being poor in spirit, being meek and merciful, being peacemakers… They are about thinking of ourselves less so we can think of God more. Because, St. Paul is right: We are nothing without God. You are reading this today because God wills it. You took a breath this morning because God made it happen. You continue breathing because wills it. You can hear and see everything around you today because God enables it. Everything you do, every talent you have, every idea you have, it’s because God gives it to you. That should keep us humble. We are compost. We are nothing without God. We are not worthy. We say that prayer every time we’re at Mass “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you…” But God makes us worthy. That is why St. Paul can say that if we are going to boast, we can only boast in Jesus Christ.

And when we think of ourselves less, we think of God more and we think of others more. Being poor in spirit, lowly and meek, pure of heart that’s thinking of ourselves less and thinking of God more. And then that makes us mournful and merciful and peacemakers and hungering for righteousness. That’s thinking about others. We have about two weeks before the beginning of Lent. Lent is a time when the Church invites us to think of ourselves less, and think of God and others more. On Ash Wednesday that’s what we are going to hear about: fasting, prayer and almsgiving: thinking of ourselves less, of God more and of others more. Maybe we can start now to prepare for Lent, by practicing this. I am going to give you just one simple example. It’s something that I am working on. Here’s how I am trying to think less of myself: You don’t have to enter into every argument you are invited. You definitely don’t have to enter into an argument if you are not invited. We do that all the time and we shouldn’t. But even if you’re invited, you don’t have to enter into it.  There’s  no need to be right, or to be heard, or to have the last word. If someone says something you don’t agree with, you don’t have to say anything. You don’t even have to say that you disagree. Just thank them for their opinion and that’s it. If someone cuts you off while you’re driving, you don’t have to make sure they see that you are angry. Just let it go. Maybe they’re in rush because they need to get to the hospital. You don’t have to be right; you don’t have to be heard. You don’t have to have the last work. Just let it go.  Trust me, if anything, you’ll have more peace.

Let’s start practicing this as we approach the season of Lent.

And then, I’m going to share a prayer with you that I hope you will pray every day, starting now and all through Lent. It’s the Litany of Humility.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, etc.
From the desire of being honored…
From the desire of being praised…
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted…
From the desire of being approved…
From the fear of being humiliated…
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebuke…,
From the fear of being calumniated…
From the fear of being forgotten…
From the fear of being ridiculed…
From the fear of being wronged…
From the fear of being suspected…

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, etc.
That others may be chosen and I set aside…
That others may be praised and I go unnoticed…
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

If you do, not only will you have more peace and you will be more humble. You will be thinking of yourself less and more about God and others. And at your funeral, people are going to say some really nice things about you. And they’ll all be true.

More more importantly, you will be blessed and the kingdom of Heaven will be yours.