Monday of the 24th
Week [I]
September 12, 2011
“Lord, … I am not worthy to
have you enter under my roof.” [Luke 7:7]
You recognize these words, I’m sure, from our
preparation at Mass for Holy Communion. The
words we currently say at this point in the Mass are not a direct
quotation from its biblical source. However,
in about two and a half months (beginning with the First Sunday of Advent), the
words of priest and laity before Holy Communion will more closely reflect the
Word of God. The priest will hold the
Blessed Sacrament before the laity and say: “Behold the Lamb of God, / behold him who
takes away the sins of the world. / Blessed are those called to the supper of
the Lamb.” And to the priest’s words,
the laity will reply: “Lord, I am not
worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul
shall be healed.”
Humility is the foundation of the spiritual
life. Nonetheless, as necessary as
humility is in the Christian life—both in general, and specifically in regard
to worthy reception of Holy Communion—it’s important also to recognize God’s response
to a heart filled with genuine humility.
This is precisely where the Lord
our God wants to dwell: in a small,
humble place. At the end of Summer may
not seem a fitting time to reflect on the mysteries of Christmas, but on
Mondays the Church reflects on the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. The third Joyful Mystery especially
illustrates this truth, that the Lord
our God wants to dwell in a small, humble place; and that He wants your soul to
be such a place.
In a few weeks—on the first of October—the Church
will celebrate the feast day of St. Thérèse the Little Flower. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, although her
feast this year will fall on a Saturday, a morning Mass will be
celebrated that day as part of our parish’s focus on vocations during October. A vocation can only flower in the seedbed of
humility. If St. Thérèse were to have a
motto, it might be the centurion’s words:
“Lord,
… I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.” Yet those human words, as foundational
as they are to our lives as disciples, are as nothing compared to the Word who
is our Master: that is, the Word of God
who “did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form
of a slave….” In the Holy Eucharist, the
divine Word takes an even humbler form:
the form of bread and wine, so humble / so that / we small humans
/ may consume God. God’s humility
is the means of our sharing in the divine life.
