In this summer weather, we can admire nature but also sometimes feel overwhelmed by the vagaries of the weather. We then take the full measure of our smallness and our place in creation. This should be the case for our position vis-à-vis God. There are so many graces to receive for the one who recognizes himself as humble and small! This is the invitation that Sr. Marie of the Sacred Heart Bernaud gives us for this month!
The Little Ones
To lower oneself before God should be easy: He is so great and we so small, He is so holy and we are so sinful, He is so good and we so imperfect… But do we recognize our smallness? Our behaviors are often even opposite. We judge, we consider ourselves superior, we assert our gifts yet received by pure grace, we calibrate our knowledge, we want to appear, be noticed, preferred …
The most beautiful of angels had said, “I will raise my throne above his throne,” and from the heights of heaven, God threw him into the abyss. Nothing attracts lightning like summits! Thus the proud soul attracts the wrath of heaven. Conversely, God rewards the one who humbles himself, because he enters into the truth, and thereby into God who is the very truth.
Let us recognize that we are small and consent to admit our spiritual infirmities by confessing our unworthiness. Jesus, the humble of the humble, lowered himself to death to save us. He shows us the way. So if we want to ascend to God in light, virtue and holiness, let us strive to lower ourselves before Him, who has accepted the worst humiliations. It is in his Heart that we will find the roots of smallness! (After Sr. Marie du Sacré Cœur Bernaud, foundress)