Your King is Coming to You, Humble . . .

Well I suppose it is time to pack up the computer for the trip west on Tuesday. Tomorrow morning we will pick up the 26 foot truck, find a place to put it here and load it up for the drive to Dayton on Tuesday, and then on the Champaign on Wednesday. There is supposed to be a break in the heat and humidity for a few days, just in time for the move. Thank you Jesus! This is especially welcome since our car’s air conditioner decided to die yesterday. Ah well, it still runs. We met Ken for Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Andrew Fisher celebrated Mass. His is a very young, very solid priest. If you watch Masses from the Shrine on EWTN, he is usually the master of ceremonies who is running around directing everything in a cassock and surplice. Any way, he was instrumental in the conversion/reversion of some good friends of ours whom we were stationed with at Yokota Air Base outside of Tokyo, Japan in the mid 80s. I will miss the Shrine. Any way, back to Ken. As usual, when we get together we discuss just about every topic under the sun with respect to theology and the interior life. Today we discussed his former denomination, the Society of the Good Shepherd which eventually became the Charismatic Episcopal Church, the rise and fall of the Christian Reconstruction movement (the Tylerites), and the need for more than just an intellectual appropriation of the faith for a healthy faith. One topic which is always close to my heart when discussing spiritual maturity is Cardinal Raphael Merry del Val’s Litany of Humility. I keep a copy of it near my computer. I suspect that most, if not all of us, are afflicted with some form of pride: egoism, prideful shyness, false humility, etc. The Litany prays for it all. Humility is not self-loathing, being a door mat, and it is especially not denying the natural gifts which God has given us. Rather, it seems to me that authentic humility is simply another aspect of the law of the gift. It is nothing other than recognizing that we truly fulfill ourselves by choosing to live out a Trinitarian/Christ-like love. Humility realizes that we are not truly fulfilled by self-accomplishments, by the praise of others, or by the acceptance of others. We are truly fulfilled only when we live for God and totally give ourselves to Him and to others for love of Him. Jesus was the greatest example of true humility. He recognized His kingship as one of service rather than power . . . “Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass” (Matt 21:5). This Kingship was won with His total gift of Himself on the Cross in service to man. For those not familiar with the Litany, I am providing the text below because it is not only a great prayer to pray, it is also very instructive and insightful.

Litany of Humility Cardinal Raphael Merry del Val (1865-1930) O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me. From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, Lord Jesus. From the desire of being honored, From the desire of being praised, From the desire of being preferred before others, From the desire of being consulted, From the desire of being approved, From the desire of being highly regarded, From the fear of being humiliated, From the fear of being rebuked, From the fear of being forgotten, 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. That in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I decrease, That others may be chosen and I passed over, That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, That others should be preferred before me in everything, That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should.

I will be posting again soon. In the meantime, keep checking back to see what Chris, John and maybe even Hiérothée have to say.