Ave Maria Meditations
Ways of acquiring this virtue of humility:
Among the ways of attaining humility is, in the first place, ardently to desire it, to value it and to ask God for it. Then our aim should be to foster docility-in resolutely carrying out the advice received in spiritual direction, to receive fraternal correction joyfully and thankfully, to accept humiliation in silence for love of God, to obey quickly and wholeheartedly and, above all, to strive to attain this precious virtue through the exercise of charity in continual details of cheerful service to others. Jesus is the supreme example of humility. No one has ever had a dignity comparable to his and no one has ever served mankind with such tender care as He: I am among you as one who serves.
If we imitate Our Lord, we will accept others as they are and pay no attention to all those little annoyances which; in themselves, are of little importance. Humility disposes us to patience, and helps us to be patient with our own defects and with the defects of the people around us. We will render many little services in the course of our daily lives without expecting anything in exchange; and we will learn from Jesus and Mary how to get along with everyone and to understand other people, defects and all. If we try to see others as Our Lord sees them, it will be easy to accept them as he accepts them.
When we meditate on those passages of the Gospel that show the shortcomings of the apostles, we will learn not to be impatient with our own failings. Our Lord takes them into account just as He also takes into account time, grace and our own desires to improve in this or that virtue or in some particular aspect of our character.
Let us finish our prayer in contemplation of our holy mother Mary by asking that she will obtain for us from her Son the virtue of humility which we need so much. Turn your eyes towards Mary. No creature ever surrendered herself to the plans of God more humbly than she. The humility of ‘ancilla Domini’, the handmaid of the Lord, is the reason we invoke her as ‘causa nostrae laetitiae’, cause of our joy … Mary, in confessing herself the handmaid of the Lord, becomes the Mother of the Divine Word, and is filled with joy. May the rejoicing that is hers, the joy of our good Mother, spread to all of us, so that with it we may continually go to her and greet her, our Holy Mother Mary, and thus become more like Christ, her Son.
Fr. Francis Fernandez
Thank you for some very useful leads in the search for this most desirable virtue essential for the true practice of our faith.
However,you go wrong when you seem to suggest that the Lord somehow learnt his humility from his mother because if that is how you understand it you could not be more wrong.
Jesus Christ chose Mary to be his mother prrhaps because he already, being God, knew her to be of a humble spirit.It was an enormous responsibilty that she carried to be the mother of the Lord and still remain humble.An ordinary soul lacking in humilty would have been walking on the moon feeling great and making her weight to be felt around being the mother of the Saviour but she was able to keep it humble knowing that the Lord had simply been gracious to her.For sure there is alot to learn from her example but not as Jesus’ mentor.He was her mentor even as a child as for example when he politely took her rebuke for remaining behind after the passover in Jerusalem, reminding her that he had a bigger business to mind His Father’s!Indeed no mortal can take the place of Jesus as the perfect example of humility.
Secondly, Mary died and we have no evidence that she rose from the dead and she cannot be prayed to.In fact to pray to her would is wrong and almost plasphemy since she was but just a man mere human!
In His human nature Our Lord, Jesus Christ, could indeed learn. If you look to the end of that chapter in St. Luke, it reads that He went home to Nazareth and was subject to His parents and that He advanced in wisdom and age and grace before God and man.
It has been the held teaching of the Church that Our Lady was assumed into heaven body and soul. The Orthodox celebrate this as the Dormition of Our Lady and the Latin Church celebrates this DOGMA as the Assumption. This is dogma! This is something that must be assented to by every Catholic.
Are you a Catholic?
The great mystery of Our Lord as true God and true man is one we cannot fathom. As God, He was omniscient, of course. But as man, He allowed the limitations of the human nature to be embraced. “He grew in wisdom” St’ Luke wrote. Yet He was Wisdom Incarnate!
Our Lady and St. Joseph taught the child Jesus. They modeled virtue for Him as well. He learned St. Joseph’s trade. He would have learned the Holy Scriptures from His earthly parents.
God gives the graces necessary for each person’s vocation. The graces granted to Our Lady and St. Joseph were exceptional, and above all other creatures. Why? Because they had the highest of vocations.
Do not be scandalized at the hyperdulia paid to Our Lady, the Mother of God. It is not worship. Fr. Francis Fernandez, the author of that reflection certainly understood her unique role in salvation.
Ave Maria!
Sr. Joseph-Mary FTI
Omagwa, I encourage you to read “Of Mary There Is Never Enough”, by William L. Biersach, and “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” by St Louis de Montfort. There are many who hold your view, but I tell you that you will fall in love with the Mother of God, your Mother, and mine. You will see the beautiful plan God ordained for all of His children. You will never be the same. May God bless you, may Jesus’ sweet Mother, and ours, help you in your journey. She loves you more than you realize! 🙂
~all for the Immaculate!
Ave Maria!