A mother, out of love for her daughter, goes out of her way to find her daughter help, for she is tormented by demons, the Gospel tells us. Met with dismissiveness from the Apostles, she begs the Lord to intervene in her daughter’s life, humbling herself to the ground and simply asking for the “scraps from the table.” And the Lord rewards this humility, for He always “lifts up the lowly” (Lk 1:52).
It is through this woman’s humble faith that the Lord works and this teaches us a lesson today. Knowing that the Lord loves us and knowing that He is present with us brings us to a point where we know that we can approach Him and ask anything of Him, as He himself tells us in the Gospel. But the key to that relationship is humility: knowing who we are in reality, accepting that graciously, and serving there quietly.
This humility helps us realize that Christ is God and we are not, which allows us to give Him the reigns. In humility, we realize that we are sinners who by no means deserve God’s love, mercy, or forgiveness, but yet we have them completely by the free gift of God Himself. And through this realization, we receive the grace to appreciate these incredible gifts for what they are: free, undeserved, and unconditional.
Let’s pray for the gift of humility this week, then, so that we may start to see God as He is and ourselves as we are in His eyes. Let’s pray for the gift of humility so that we can appreciate more fully those gifts of love, mercy, and forgiveness that the Lord is so ready to pour out upon us.
