April 25

Today’s Readings: 1 PT 5:5-14 PS 89:2-3, 6-7, 16-17 MK 16:15-20

The first reading begins, “Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another.”

I can almost hear your questions. 1. Do you EVER read past the first line? (I DO! And I’m offended by the question!) 2. How might we clothe ourselves with humility? (#2 is a far superior question to #1.)

Take the smallest dessert. Suggest the next vacation where your spouse would love to go. Drive the older car (unless it’s a classic, in which case drive that new plastic piece of modern garbage). Discover what chore the rest of your family really hates and start doing it. These are great ways to practice humility, but it’s really about recognizing our role in relationship to God. When we remember this, we seek to change ourselves before others. Think of the Prayer of St. Francis.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

David is the Director of Faith Formation at Our Lady of Joy. If you have comments or questions, send your emails to dlins@oloj.org.

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