Friday 2^nd January – Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzen, Bishops

Reflection: John 1:19-28

EMBRACE HUMILITY

Humility is the quality by which a person, considering his own defects has a lowly opinion of himself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God’s sake. John the Baptist was a man of great humility. His works had set the people wondering if he was the Christ and if he had claimed to be the Christ, they would have believed him and accorded him more respect and honour. Yet, when asked ‘who are you?’ He admitted, “I am not the Christ.” When Christ finally appeared, he joyfully and dutifully announced Him to the world. John showed the depth of his humility in the words: “It is necessary that he increase but that I decrease” (John 3:30).

To the world it would seem he had failed, having lost his followers to Christ. However, in God’s sight, he had not failed; he had fulfilled his mission. John understood this perfectly and said: “only the bridegroom has the bride; but the friends of the bridegroom stands by and listens, and rejoices to hear the bridegroom’s voice. My joy is now full’ (John 3:29). Dear friends, knowing our divine purpose helps us to keep ourselves within our bounds and to have a modest estimate of our own worth. We must always remember that God has created each of us unique. Thus, we are not in competition with anyone, our sole desire should be to fulfil the plans of God for us wherever we find ourselves.

God created each of us for a purpose which can be achieved without interfering with the purpose of others. For some their purpose will bring fame, for others, it will keep them simple; some will acquire great wealth, while others will need a lowly life to fulfil their purpose. We must always remember that God’s ways are not our ways and what the world call riches and success are not God’s yardstick for assessing us. God who created us has good plans for each of us, what differs is the way in which He wants us to enjoy His goodness and to fulfil our purpose. Let us not allow pride to distract us from fulfilling our purpose and from recognising God’s presence in the poor and lowly.

PRAYER: Lord, help me understand your path for me and give me the grace to accept it joyfully. Amen

KNOW YOUR FAITH: CCC 2540 – …Envy of comes from pride; the baptised person should train himself to live in humility.

HIDE A TREASURE: “My son, have a modest appreciation of yourself, estimate yourself at your true value.” Sirach 10:28 CCB

Readings for Today: 1 John 2: 22-28, Psalm 98:1-4, John 1:19-28