Study:  Reflect on a person who loves selflessly.  What qualities do you see in their behavior toward others?

Pray:  Ask the Lord for the awareness to see more clearly the needs of others, and the grace to respond with love.

Serve:  How might you make a sacrifice to help someone?  How might you let go of what you want in order to assist another in need?

Mass Readings – 22nd Sunday of the Year 

The theme of humility surfaces throughout the readings this week.  Check this out:

• 1st Reading – “My child, conduct your affairs with humility.”
• Psalm – “God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.”
• 2nd Reading – We draw near to Jerusalem, where Jesus and the angels dwell.
• Gospel – “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

What does humility mean?  What does it mean to say that a person is humble?  The word is often misunderstood and misused, and yet it is an important concept in the Scriptures and Church teaching.

At it’s heart, humility is about our perspective of ourselves against a larger background.  We are not the center of the universe!  Rather, we understand that we exist in relationship to the Lord and one another.

God is the center and origin of our lives, from which we derive all grace and blessings.  We are sustained in the mind of God, and invited to love the Lord with all our heart and mind, body and soul.  For remember: the Lord loved us first, and out of love gave his Son to save us from our sins.

Yet the relationship is not just between ourselves and the Lord.  We also exist in relationship to one another.  We are part of a great communion of souls – both living and dead – and we are invited to grow in love of those around us.

Humility arises when we see ourselves clearly in the light of these relationships.  We understand that our needs and wants are always set in the context of other (often far greater) concerns.  When this happens we grow in awareness of how our lives interact and weave together, fostering communication, cooperation, and respect.