Mary's Profound Humility

By ourselves, we are empty.  But we must admit that we are empty, so we can be filled by the goodness of God. We must admit and constantly confess our emptiness, which is another word for humility.
 
Mary declared how grateful she was that the Lord had done so much for Israel and His servant. Humility serves. Humility waits on others. Humility responds to another’s need. This is the mother of God, but only because she is also the lowly handmaid of the Lord. The more gifted a person, the easier it is for a person to be proud. The more a person has physically or mentally or even morally, the harder it is for that person to be humble. How are we to be humble? How can we possess without being proud? Only through being in the presence of Jesus Christ and asking Him to help us grow in humility.
 
God’s grace can only enter into our hearts and souls when it is empty---when there is room.  How do we make room?  By being humble.  When we are filled with ourselves, our will, our pride, there is no room for God’s free gifts to us.  Mary tells us in the Magnificat that the reason that God could become Man was because of her lowliness---her humility.  If we want to receive God’s grace to grow in holiness, we must make room in our hearts and souls. If we want to bring Christ to others, we must have Christ in us. to have Christ in us, let us, like Mary, know that we are nothing without God and with God, we have everything!
 
 
Mary's humility is a paradox. The most gifted creature ever produced by the Creator was also the lowliest in her own eyes. That is the key to humility: seeing everything we are, everything we have, everything we hope to become, everything we hope to achieve or possess – seeing everything as a free, undeserved and totally a gift from God.
 
Pray and meditate on the Litany of Humility and ask Mary to help you grow in humility.
 
The Litany of Humility
O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus. (repeat after each line)
From the desire of being loved,
From the desire of being extolled,
From the desire of being honored,
From the desire of being praised,
From the desire of being preferred to others,
From the desire of being consulted,
From the desire of being approved,
From the fear of being humiliated,
From the fear of being despised,
From the fear of suffering rebukes,
From the fear of being calumniated,
From the fear of being forgotten,
From the fear of being ridiculed,
From the fear of being wronged,
From the fear of being suspected,
 
That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. (repeat after each line)
That others may be esteemed more than I ,
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease,
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should. Amen