Humility
Isaiah 10:5-7, 13-16, Matthew 11:25-27
God condemns Assyria for its pride and arrogance. Assyria had taken credit for their military victories, disregarding the mighty intervention of God. Hence, God spoke through the prophet that Assyria will be punished for their haughtiness and pride and that their own strength will be their downfall.
Consequently, in the gospel, Jesus tells us to be humble and enter into his rest. Let us learn to be humble so that we can truly experience the rest that Christ offers. In humility, there is rest; it brings about inner peace, emotional balance, resilience, readiness to learn, and freedom from the burden of maintaining a perfect image.
On the other hand, there is no rest for the proud, because a proud person is always agitated, neurotic, and anxious. Pride leads to defensiveness, arrogance, excessive need for validation, self-doubt, fear of failure, an inability to accept criticism, and sin.
St. Bonaventure, whose memorial we celebrate today, reflected God in all things. A historian of the Council of Lyons said of him: “Unsurpassed in sanctity, wisdom, and love. Affable, charitable, and rich in virtue; so charming that all who met him were drawn to him.” We too have been endowed with gifts. But we often bury them in laziness. We cannot sustain divine attributes without using them.
Let us pray.
Father, give all who profess to be Christians the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ and to strive after all that does it honour. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
Fr. Daniel Evbotokhai
