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Philippians 2: 1-4
Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also everyone for those of others.
The Word of the Lord.
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“Humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,” Saint Paul says in our first reading.
Humility.
What is it? How do you define it?
The word “humility” comes from the Latin, “humus,” meaning, “earth.”
A humble person is well-grounded. Their feet are firmly planted, allowing them to stand – not above or below – but shoulder to shoulder with their neighbor, including the poor, the crippled, and the blind as we hear in the Gospel.
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We know a humble person when we see them.
It’s the spouse who foregoes the last word, or the need to be right in an argument, in order to preserve peace in the household.
It’s the athlete who gets second place in a competition but sincerely congratulates the winner.
It’s the dad who forgoes a golf game in order to attend his child’s recital … or a meeting at church.
It’s the person you met at Mass on Sunday who promised to pray for you … and does so all week long … or longer.
It’s the person who quietly drops off fresh baked goodies for our café, or cleans the linens for Mass.
Often such acts go unnoticed, but the humble person doesn’t mind. They do it all out of love.
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In what ways might we practice that type of humility today?
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Image credits: (1) Jeff Brumley, Baptist Global News, Baylor University (2) Finding Humility, Movement Forward (3) Differencebetween.com
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