Traditional Catholic Teaching - TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed.
St. Matthew 13: 31.

The parable of the grain of mustard seed should remind us of a virtue to which the kingdom of God on earth owes, in a very special manner, its growth and its solidity — the virtue of humility.

Humility removes all obstacles to the grace which will be our support in the warfare of life, for "God resisteth the proud." Many have fallen into sin simply because they thought themselves too strong to yield to it. Pride leads us to forget God, to despise the experience of others, and, even if we have sorrowful experiences of our own, it makes us fancy that we are now much stronger and wiser than we used to be, and, therefore, we shall now have no difficulty at all in overcoming a temptation that conquered us before, it is true, yet not without a struggle. Pride is literally a revolt against God, and a voluntary yielding to evil, a surrender of ourselves to temptation and sin.

Pride leads us to judge harshly of sinners, to ridicule and despise them, and to make their faults our favourite topic of conversation; in this way we are indulging our vanity, by assuming ourselves to be far better than poor, weak creatures, such as they are.

God allows the proud to learn by bitter experience to ask themselves: "Who art thou that judgest another?" He withdraws His hand from them and lets them fall as deep, or even deeper, than their fellows whom they have been accustomed to regard with scornful disdain. Well is it for such proud men if, after their fall, they understand the words: "Who art thou that judgest another?" — thou art poor, weak and wretched, just as those were whom thou wast wont to despise and condemn without mercy —thou art even poorer, weaker and more wretched than they.

Well is it, indeed, for the proud if they recognize this truth at least after they have fallen into sin; but pride often blinds them to such an extent, that what they condemn unmercifully in others, appears no sin at all in themselves, and they find a thousand excuses for doing things that they have ridiculled and scorned when done by others. When this is the case, they continue in their sins, and fall again and again into fresh temptations, until they are finally so completely entangled in evil, that they cannot escape from it without a special miracle of God's grace.

"God resisteth the proud and giveth grace unto the humble," therefore, if you wish to triumph over all temptations now and always, you must suffer humility to reign in your hearts. Do not be misled by the fact that the humble man is often looked down upon by his fellow-creatures — he is truly great in God's sight; and true greatness comes from God alone, no human being is able to bestow it. Men often try to poison our minds by flattering our vanity and by extolling the good qualities that they believe us to possess, and thus they lead us to despise the faithful warnings of our true friends, and to cherish exaggerated ideas of our own importance. Such flatterers aim at persuading us that wisdom consists in disregarding the laws of God, beauty in offending against decency, and genuine self-respect in giving way to erroneous opinions and evil passions. How can such people give us comfort, counsel and help — even if they wish to do so, when sin has plunged us into misery?

Would that you always recognized clearly and humbly what life really is! At each step experience would then confirm the truth of what I say, in my desire to be a faithful counsellor. Those who poison our hearts with pride are the very first to crush us, when we are brought low, with their scorn, indifference, contempt and condemnation. This is a just curse upon the proud, which will weigh him down to the end of the world. Whoever is abandoned by God is finally brought low and is forsaken by men; for he who rejects God, his best friend, will never find a true and loyal friend among men.

Before it is too late inscribe upon your hearts the words: "To the humble God giveth grace" (I. Peter 5: 5) ; none but a humble soul can overcome the temptations of life, and none other is strong, for it is only for the humble that God Himself fights. If you have not humility, no matter what means you employ against temptation, all will be in vain. Even prayer avails but little without humility, as without it, it is not true prayer at all, although the prayer of a childlike and humble soul, offered with loving confidence, is a most powerful protection when we are tempted. Our Lord says: "Ask and you shall receive" (John 16: 24), and His words can never prove false.

Even if the waves of temptation threaten to overwhelm us, we will have recourse to Him, and He never is asleep when we need His help. St. Cyprian says very beautifully: "Just as children run to their mother when something has frightened them, so let us turn for shelter to God, when we are alarmed by any temptation."

Therefore lift up your hearts to God with some holy thought as soon as each temptation assails you. Prayer places our hearts, as it were, in God's hand, and there even in the midst of trials, we enjoy the peace of childlike confidence in Him. The temptation does not necessarily cease as soon as we pray, but our fear lest we should be unable to overcome it is soothed.

More than by any other false suggestions are we misled by the idea that it is impossible for us to prevail over our temptations, but this thought vanishes and gives place to courage and confidence as soon as we pray. Prayer strengthens us so that we attain to fortitude, the third virtue necessary in every struggle with temptation, and fortitude, as a Christian virtue, takes away all diffidence as to whether we can conquer even with God's help, and impels us to have recourse to the right means of gaining the victory, even if they may seem painful, for we are upheld by a holy consciousness of our strength in God.

It is a universal truth that he is lost who gives himself up for lost, but it is particularly true in our conflict with temptation. He is indeed lost who yields to panic, and is not resolved to fight with firm confidence in God.

Let us, therefore, seek protection in humble, trustful prayer, and then every temptation will become to us a means of salvation, an opportunity for earning merit and a step on the way to heaven.

We ought to struggle thus against all temptations, including those to venial sin, for they are often most dangerous to our spiritual life. St. Francis of Sales says: "A generous nature is less prone to fall into gross sins, and it is easy to avoid murder, robbery and bearing false witness, but the smaller temptations to anger, envy, jealousy, falsehood and misrepresentation are those which insinuate themselves into the hearts even of good people and gradually try to bring about their destruction."

May the virtue of humility, united in your hearts with trustful prayer, ever gain strength and grow, like the grain of mustard seed, to a vigorous plant, able to afford you protection and refreshment in your fierce encounters with temptation. Amen.

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