“Where there is humility, there is wisdom”

Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae -- because he has looked graciously upon the lowliness of his handmaid ... I am more convinced every day that authentic humility is the supernatural basis for all virtues! Talk to Our Lady, so that she may train us to walk along that path. (Furrow, 289)

If we turn to Sacred Scripture we will see that humility is absolutely necessary when we are making ready to listen to God. ‘Where there is humility, there is wisdom’, says the book of Proverbs. Humility means looking at ourselves as we really are, honestly and without excuses. And when we realise that we are worth hardly anything, we can then open ourselves to God’s greatness: it is there our greatness lies.

How well Our Lady, Jesus’ Holy Mother, understood this! She, the most exalted of all God’s creatures that have existed or ever will exist upon this earth! Mary glorifies the power of Our Lord, who ‘has put down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted the lowly’. And she sings of how his divine providence has once again been fulfilled in her: ‘because he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid, behold henceforth all generations shall call me blessed’.

Mary becomes transformed in holiness in the depths of her most pure heart on seeing the humility of God: ‘the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; and therefore the Holy One to be born of you shall be called the Son of God’. The Blessed Virgin’s humility is a consequence of that unfathomable depth of grace which comes into operation with the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity in the womb of his ever Immaculate Mother. (Friends of God, 95-96)

Receive messages by e-mail

email