St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

Jesus performs two shocking, and in both cases, the key that released the power of his grace was humility. As believers in the Lord and desirous to imitate our Blessed Mother, the first of the Lord’s disciples, we need to grow in humility, not pride. As we are aware the world relishes in pride and sadly even celebrates it this month. Jairus, the synagogue official was humble: he knew that saving his daughter was something beyond his own powers. This is clearly demonstrated by how he approaches Jesus. When he made his way into the Lord's presence, he wasn't aloof, skeptical, and argumentative, like so many Pharisees and Sadducees. Instead, St. Mark tells us that he "fell at his (Jesus') feet and pleaded earnestly with him."

The synagogue official was an important person in the city. He was used to being in charge, used to having the right answers and helping other people solve their problems. But faced with the mortal sickness of his child, Jairus remembered that there was a higher power in the universe than him, and he humbled himself before the Lord, and the Lord "went off with him" to work a miracle.

The woman with the hemorrhage was humble too; her sickness had made her so. She was not a powerful leader in society. In fact, her sickness made her an outcast. She was "unclean," according to the Mosaic Law. And she was risking her very life by fighting her way through the crowd, touching all those people, and making them unclean too. Where did she get the strength to overcome those obstacles? From her humility.

For twelve years she had been seeking a solution to her chronic, humiliating, and debilitating health issue, paying for all the latest technology and all the most highly recommended doctors. So she discovered the vast limits of human ingenuity, and turned instead to the limitless mercy of a much higher power. She risked everything just to touch a tassel of the Lord's cloak; and strength far beyond her limited human powers flowed out from Him and healed her. The humility of these two unforgettable Gospel characters opened their hearts to faith in Jesus Christ. And faith unleashed God's saving power in their lives. And God's saving power healed their hopelessness, strengthened their weakness, and enlightened their darkness.

Humility is the only door through which God's grace can reach our hearts and set us on the path of true happiness. This leaves us, logically speaking, with a question: What can we do to increase our humility? St. Paul gives us one possibility in today's Second Reading.

In this Letter, he is encouraging the Christians in the prosperous Greek city of Corinth to be generous in helping the Christians in Jerusalem, who are suffering from a severe economic downturn. He points out that sharing with others the gifts we have received from God's providence is one way we can follow Christ more closely.   

Jesus, in fact, was the first one who took the privileges He had received from the Father and surrendered them by becoming a man in the Incarnation. And by lowering Himself in that way, He made it possible for us to share in those privileges, to become real children of God. This is what St. Paul is referring to when he writes: "... though He [Christ] was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich."   

Christ, the eternal, divine Son of God, coming down from heaven and raising us up to share in His divinity is the perfect model of humility. We can follow His example by reaching out to others just as He has reached out to us. Visiting the sick and imprisoned, feeding the hungry, praying  for sinners, encouraging the discouraged, comforting the troubled, inviting sinners to repent...

By "gracious actions" like these (as St. Paul calls them) we reproduce in our souls the humility that Christ taught us. And doing that opens the door for His transforming grace to come and make us into the wise, joyful, courageous, and fruitful saints that we were created to be.

Praised Be Jesus Christ!