Humble Children of God

   

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

05 November 2023

 

First Reading: Mal 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 131:1, 2, 3

Second Reading: 1 Thes 2:7b-9, 13

Gospel: Mt 23:1-12

 

Reflection

By: Carlo Alexis Malaluan

 

You have but one Father in heaven! For a Christian, this is not just a way of speaking, or a designation. Mindfulness of divine filiation is rooted in a divine gift that transforms a person from within. St. John puts it this way: "See what love the Father has for us, that He has called us sons of God, and so we are!...We are truly children of God" (1 Jn 3,1-2).

Have you ever noticed that new-born babies would often resemble the physical characteristics of their parents? And as they grow older, they would adapt their behaviours and mannerisms? For this, Jesus tells us: You have but one Father in heaven! A Father from whom we came from, and whose image and likeness we are formed and created. As we are created in the image of God, we are called to be like Him in every way, to participate in His sanctity in our everyday encounters. As Saint Matthew would tell us, “But you are to be perfect, for as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Mt 5,8).

In the Gospel for today, Jesus warns his disciples not to look for other “teachers”, rather points us to a perfect example. The Lord explicitly tells us to become humble. The greatest among you must be your servant (Mt 23,11). And who is the image of perfect humility? Jesus. He says, “learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Mt 11:29). Most of the time, it is not easy to be humble. It is way easier to assert ourselves. We always want to be heard and seen. We always want to have an impact. And humility seems to be blocking the way for us to be “known”. But, on the contrary, humility is not an act of self-rejection nor self-deprivation. Saint Thomas Aquinas defines it this way: “Humility means seeing ourselves as God sees us: knowing every good we have comes from Him as pure gift” (Summa Q161). As pride is an excessive response to cover-up our own lackness and emptiness, humility is realising our own belovedness rooted in the goodness of God. Adam, the first man turned away from God through pride and disobedience and ruptured the loving relationship of God and humanity. Jesus, who is the perfect Son of the Father understood humility perfectly the he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness (Ph 2,7) in order for humanity to come to the Father as sons and daughters. Humility, impulsed by love, brings us back into the communion with God.

As Christians, we participate in this loving action of love and humility by “deeply caring for others and by sharing with them not only the gospel of God but also our own selves”, says Saint Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians. Offering our own selves for the sake of others is an act of humility and perfection. What God has given us through his generous donation, through what Christ has shown us exemplary on the cross and through the creative action of the Holy Spirit within us- we are too called to participate in this self-giving as children of the Father in Christ through the Holy Spirit. In our small and daily activities, in thinking of the welfare of those around us, in a thoughtful action of kindness and charity - there we are able to become more and more the “image and likeness”  of God, our one Father in heaven.

Prayer

Jesus, help us to become humble like You so that in our effort to do so, we continue to become the image and likeness of our one Father in heaven.