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Last week, we talked about humility.
I said, humility is not just accepting your weaknesses and shortcomings.
Humility is trusting in God’s power and looking to God in all your circumstances, even in an impossible situation. That was what Mary did when she said, “Let it be so.”
Humble people always look to God in all circumstances and leave their situations in God’s hand.
That’s why they experience the peace of God.
Every problem, every challenge, every difficulty – They all leave it in God’s hands instead of worrying about it.
And God grants peace to those who are humble.
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6, 7)
Memory Card – today’s passage too.
Humble people are comfortable with themselves.
Because they don’t have to prove to the world how great they are. Because they don’t have to control others as they wish.
The opposite of humility is pride.
Pride is the root of all our sins. It destroys peace within us.
C. S. Lewis said, in his book, “Mere Christianity”
According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil.
All the great Christians in history warned us against pride. Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, all of them warned us against pride.
Pride is poison to our soul.
Proud people can never please God. God resists the proud.
God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5)
Do you know why pride is so bad?
Pride does not allow forgiveness. Proud people cannot forgive themselves either and also others.
Pride and forgiveness don’t go together.
In today’s passage, St. Paul advised us to do this.
Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:13)
This – proud people cannot do.
Pride dismantles our ability to receive and give forgiveness. That’s why it is the greatest sin. It immobilizes the power to forgive.
Our spiritual discipline is to turn pride into humility.
In humility, we can receive true forgiveness. Our humility can kill our pride.
The greatest message Jesus brought to this world is Forgiveness.
The cross is all about forgiveness. He took our sins upon himself and forgave us.
Isaiah saw that very clearly.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
Jesus was humble to take on all that suffering. To let us go free, he took our punishment upon himself.
THAT IS THE ULTIMATE FORM OF HUMILITY.
Pride will never do that. Will never be able to do that.
Forgiveness comes from this kind of humility.
This is unthinkable in this ego-filled world. This is not possible in those who live their lives with the entitlement attitude.
This world lost the ability to be compassionate, kind, meek, and patient which are hall marks of being a good Christian. Being a good human being.
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12)
Jesus was humble and that’s why he was able to take our punishment upon himself.
He was meek and gentle. He took our burdens upon himself and now we can have true rest in Jesus.
Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
And this he told us to do.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15)
Jesus had the power to forgive because he was humble. Jesus gave you the power to forgive.
Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. (John 20:22, 23)
We are living in the world of division, separation, and animosity. People are polarized.
There are so many hurts, pain, and sadness. We don’t see peace around us.
Hurt, anger, disappointment, and hatred – These are like poison. They poison our soul.
They cause division, separation, violence, and many heartaches.
We know how divided we are.
We are divided by our cultures, races, ideologies, and politics. We are divided because we have hurt each other.
We live in the broken and dysfunctional relationships.
Let us put down our pride and clothe ourselves with humility. Let us bear one another. Let us be peace makers.
Power can never bring peace.
It brings more division, more fights, more violence, more sadness, and more victims.
Humility brings peace to the world.
Listen to the prayer of St. Francis.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
We dream of the world where there is peace.
That was what John saw.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away. (Revelation 21:1, 4)
Today is the last Sunday of 2024. Do not get stuck in your old baggage.
Send away your anger, disappointment, hatred, and animosity.
In humility, clothe yourself with love.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. (Colossians 3:14, 15)
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