Today's Mass readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/010916.cfm
It was in second grade, I think,
probably when the nuns were preparing me for First Holy Communion. I was taught to say a little prayer when the
priest kneels after the consecration of the host. “My Lord and my God,” I was taught to
pray. Which is a great prayer at that
moment, as it’s a reminder that this IS the Lord and God, right there, hidden
in the appearance of bread.
I still pray that, sometimes adding
“My friend, my King,” to “My Lord and my God.”
But it was just a few years ago
- I think it was in a conversation about
pride and humility I was having with my spiritual director, and he advised me
to pray a different prayer. He said he
prays “I must decrease, you must increase” at that moment, and he said it had
been a great help in gaining greater humility.
So I’ve taken to pray that little
prayer when the priest kneels after the consecration of the chalice: “I must decrease, Lord, so that in me you may
increase.”
What I didn’t realize is that this
little prayer comes directly from the Gospel which was just proclaimed. “He must increase, I must decrease.” It’s a prayer of humility, and humility is
what this Gospel is all about, huh?
St. John the Baptist, whom Jesus
calls elsewhere in the Gospel the greatest born of woman, knows exactly who he
is, and knows exactly who he isn’t. And
knows his role, his mission. Which is to
point the way to the Christ, but he knows and proclaims, in this Gospel and the
Gospel that will be proclaimed for tomorrow’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord,
that he is not the Christ, that in fact he’s not even worthy to fasten the
thong of Christ’s sandal.
What a great lesson to us, huh? Especially in this world that encourages
everything BUT humility. That encourages
us to extol ourselves, to take credit for our possessions and accomplishments,
to rebel against any authority that would infringe on our self-autonomy.
The world says “it’s my body, I’ll
do with it what I want.”
“It’s my money, I worked hard for
it, I’ll do with it what I want.”
“Nobody is going to tell me what to
do.”
Humility is the last thing our world
encourages, but the first thing the Christian must strive for.
And because self-centeredness is so
strong, to strive for humility is, without question, a struggle. A lifelong struggle not to put ourselves
down, which is what so many of us think of when we hear the word.
No, humility is to realize, like
John the Baptist, who we are and who we are not. That He is God and we are His servants, put
here with a mission of service to Him and His people. To realize our place, our role, our gifts,
and to claim the grace He gives us to do just that.
A lifelong process of letting go of
all that is within us that is not of Him, of letting Him increase in us. “I must decrease, Lord, so that in me you may
increase.”
No comments:
Post a Comment