Sunday, September 17 : Saint Francis de Sales

Humility is not just about self-mistrust but about the entrusting of ourselves to God. Distrusting ourselves and our own strength produces trust in God, and from that trust generosity of soul is born. The most holy Virgin, Our Lady, gave us an outstanding example of this when she spoke these words: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). When she said she was the handmaid of the Lord she was performing the greatest act of humility it is possible to do, and all the more so in that she was contradicting the praise given her by the angel – that she would be mother of God, that the child to be born from her womb would be called Son of the Most High, a greater dignity than any we might imagine – I say, she opposed her lowliness and unworthiness to all these praises and greatness by saying that she was the handmaid of the Lord. Yet note how, no sooner had she rendered her duty to humility than she practised outstanding generosity by saying: “May it be to me according to your word”. What she wanted to say was: It is true I am in no way capable of this grace if one is to consider what I am of myself, but insofar as what is good in me comes from God and what you say to me is his own most holy will, I believe it may happen and will happen. And so, without the least hesitation, she said: “Let it be done to me according to your word”.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team