The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

Everyone that humbles himself shall be exalted and he that exalts himself shall be humbled.

Christ Himself, exemplifies this. God in the highest; the Creator of all things, has descended from the heights, honor and glory that are His to take upon Himself the flesh of His creation and to become one with us. And not just any one of us, but He has taken upon Himself the lowliest position among the poor; the workers; and manual laborers. He humbled Himself beyond measure, and as a reward for this He is exalted above all.

St. Francis of Assisi likewise understood these words of Christ and sought to implement them in every way he could into his life. He humbled himself as completely as he could. St. Francis sought in every way to be like Christ, but especially in His humility and love. As a reward for this humility on earth we see that St. Francis is honored among the highest of Saints in Heaven. It has even been said that he now holds the place that was abandoned by Lucifer the former light bearer and leader of the Seraphim.

As we consider Lucifer and all the fallen angels, we see that they exalted themselves. They considered themselves "like unto God", and as a punishment were driven from their high honor and glory to the depths of degradation and suffering in Hell. They were utterly humiliated.

All the saints and all the religious orders in the Church exemplify this humility, but St. Francis is the one who seems to have most closely conformed himself in this matter to Christ. He has been given the title of "Mirror of Christ" because he so closely and clearly reflected this virtue of humility. Likewise his order, the order of St. Francis of Assisi, has been given the title of the Seraphic Order. All who wish to become a saint (which we are all called to do) will benefit from following St. Francis. In following St. Francis we are therefore following Christ and in this journey we must learn true humility.

Humility is not a denial of the truth. Many are confused into thinking that to be humble they must deny the very talents and abilities that they do have; that they must put on the appearance of lowliness. And in their superficial attempts at humility they develop a false humility that is hypocritical and Pharisaical.

A superior is not being humble when he allows his subordinates to abuse the authority that God has given him. This is a false humility. A parent is not being humble by allowing his child to insult or abuse him. The parent or superior may deserve this abuse, but the office or position that he has been given by God does not. He has been given this position and in this capacity he reflects the authority of God. To abuse the superior or parent is to abuse the authority of God. And this, the superior or parent has an obligation to correct and prevent. Not for his own honor and glory but for the honor and glory of God, and the salvation of his subjects or children. So to fail in our obligations to God out of weakness or laziness is not humility or virtue, but is actually a vice. And this we call false humility.

We are truly humble when we honestly look upon ourselves: what we are and what God wants us to be. We must strive to see ourselves truly or as God sees us. When we realize how far away we are from the ideal we begin to understand the virtue of humility. We see our own nothingness in the fact that all that we have and all that we are has been given to us by God. Everything is a grace from God, and without Him we are nothing or worse than nothing.

We are incapable of doing the least good without the grace of God. We look upon God who is infinitely good, and we look upon ourselves who are filled with evil and emptiness. We are filled with the nothingness from which we came. As this truth sinks into our hearts and minds we become humble. And in this humility we seek the lowliest or last place which we know ourselves to truly deserve. And thus, we become like Christ and St. Francis.

When God sees this virtue in our souls, He will begin to fill up this emptiness and void in our lives with Himself. And we will gradually be called to go up higher. Our ultimate goal is to one day be filled with the virtues of God to such an extent that when God looks into our soul, He will see His virtues and good works (His own reflection) and will call us to go up to the wonderful heights of Heaven.

Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?