Jesus, Humble of Heart

Today we celebrated the Solemnity of Corpus Christi at the Holy Sepulcher with the Latin Patriarch Bishop Fouad Twal. It was an amazingly beautiful liturgy and afterward, many of us had the opportunity to meet the Patriarch. Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ which you will celebrate on Sunday at home, is always a reminder for me of the humility of Christ. Jesus was perfectly humble, so humble that He willed to give Himself to us in the form of simple bread and wine. He completely gave of Himself, being completely self-donative and vulnerable enough to be broken and given for us, at Calvary then, and in the Eucharist today.

Christ did this not for Himself, but for you, for me, for all of us! But in doing so, He was also teaching us an important lesson, for just as St. Augustine said, "He was unwilling to teach what He Himself was not, He was unwilling to command what He Himself did not practice." As seminarians our entire purpose, or rule of life, is conforming our lives and wills to Christ so that we may be an alter Christus, another Christ. Humility is inseparable from vulnerability. Christ, in humility became vulnerable as bread and because of this, man, in a sense, has become the caretaker of Christ ensuring that the love and reverence due God is given to the small white hosts that sit in our tabernacles across the Archdiocese and the world.

Pilgrimages are also inseparable from humility and vulnerability. We left our comfortable seminary and flew to the Middle East, not knowing the language, relying completely on the hospitality and kindness of others. We hope the bus driver knows where he is going and can get us there on time. Thank God that Hashem is so good! (To read more about Hashem) We walk around a city that we are unfamiliar with, often times getting lost but in doing so we recognize just how human we are.

Humility is recognizing that we are nothing and the God is everything. We rely on Him for everything, for each breath we take. Nothing we have do we actually posses for all is a gift from Him. Humility is letting someone else lead the Rosary on the drive to the Old City. Humility is holding the door open for someone else or refilling the water pitcher at lunch. Humility is offering the last piece of pita bread to your brother even though you still have a little bit of hummus left and really want it. It doesn't necessarily have to be anything grandiose or painful, it just has to be sacrificial. Sacrificing your time, your reputation, your appetite, your wants, etc. And, at times, humility is allowing yourself to be humiliated.

There is nothing more humbling than being hot (it was over 100 degrees a couple days) and frustrated and completely lost, trying to communicate with someone who only speaks Arabic, only to find out that your destination is in the opposite direction, where you had just come from. There are plenty of miscommunications and embarrassments. But what matters is how we react to them. St. Bernard stated that, "he is humble who converts all his humiliations into humility and says unto God, 'it is good for me that Thou hast humbled me.'"

As men, we hate to be vulnerable and seem weak, but that is exactly who Christ is and who He calls us to be. Each one of us on pilgrimage must forfeit our own ideas and desires for that of the group, which is a good practice for our future ministry where we will give deference to the needs of our parishioners. We can only do so with humility. If we, all Christian people, desire to be more like Christ than we must be more humble and as soon as we esteem ourselves as humble, we can be assured that we lack it all the more. Our goal is heaven, ultimate union with God and as St. Augustine so aptly put it, "no one reaches the kingdom of Heaven except by humility."

O Jesus, who desired to stay with us in the form of humble bread and wine, making Yourself vulnerable in every way, conform me to Yourself so that when others look at me, they may see You. You said, "learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart." Teach me humility, Lord, for I know it not. May everything I do be for Your glory. In Your great magnitude I can see my own nothingness, give me the grace to see each time pride begins to swell within me so that I many cling to You alone. O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like Yours.