The Attraction of Humility | 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time | Sunday Reflection

Moving to a different school, a new and overwhelmed student accidentally sat in the teacher’s seat. It was a mistake. Naturally, the teacher’s seat seemed nicer, more comfortable, and well situated. Soon, the poor student learned the hard way that that seat was for someone else. She was moved down to the regular seats to the great amusement of the other children. It was an inadvertent mistake on the part of a nervous child in an unfamiliar setting. There was nothing prideful or calculating about it. It’s very different from what we meet sometimes in ourselves or others—the scrambling or jostling for self-promotion—when we seek a higher place over others.

Today, we have the gospel of taking the lowest place after the example of the humble Christ who always took that place. He still does. He made it His own. He made it into a place where we are sure to meet Him—from the crib, to the Cross, to the Eucharist, to the poor. He took that place, emptying Himself. Even in the washing of the feet, the great illustration of what He does for us in the sacraments, He is in the lowest place, kneeling on the ground before us as He purifies our hearts and strengthens our souls. He does this, not so that we can lord it over others but so that we can serve others as He serves: “here am I among you as One who serves.”

Spiritual growth and depth are impossible without humility. Spiritual discernment is about humbly listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Instead of picking our own place and setting ourselves above others, humility attends to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and seeks to occupy the place He assigns—a place always more satisfying and fulfilling than the place we ourselves might seek through pride or arrogance.

There is an unspoken beauty in humility. It’s an inherently attractive virtue when we perceive it in others. It radiates from those who have it. It indicates a sense of worth found in God, a self-possession that doesn’t crave human acclaim, and an inner freedom that seeks the Lord’s will. Such humility, which can appear natural and easy, is often the fruit of many small, hidden decisions and holy choices along the way. It has been practiced through countless acts of putting self after others as well at the ongoing desire to choose the Lord. It is built up over years of striving to be humble for the love of Jesus and the sake of others.

Though often difficult to practice, we recognize humility readily in others and are attracted by it. We learn it most from the One who said: “learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart.” Even our small efforts toward humility please the Lord greatly and make us already sharers in His great promises to the humble. He will lift them up. He will say: “Come higher, friend; come closer.”

The inner life of the humble person attracts imperceptibly. This is because it is the humble Christ who acts in them, drawing others to Himself. The humble make way for God. In them, the self-emptied yet glorious Christ lives and acts, loves and draws to Himself.

Blessed Mary, of course, is the humblest of creatures—and the most glorious. And these two are connected, for the Lord raises the humble but casts down the proud.