8 Comments

I love this! It reminds me of St. Mary Magdalene and her single heartedness.

Expand full comment

This is a beautiful reflection. I admit that the idea of being persecuted is daunting; you handled this difficult passage of Scripture with ultimate hope, leaving me with a sense of peace. Thank you for that! I also appreciate that you included a link to the Litany of Humility. It's sad to say that I've essentially been a life-long Catholic, yet I've only become aware of the Litany in recent months. It's definitely something to pray daily.

Expand full comment

Thank you so much, Jenny! I'm so glad you enjoyed it and found it hopeful. I was only recently introduced to the Litany of Humility myself; it unfortunately seems to not be very widely known. It is a beautiful gem in the Church’s treasury of prayers, and hopefully more people can come to know about it and pray it often. God bless you!

Expand full comment

One of my priest friends has print outs of the Litany of Humility that he gives out for penance at the sacraments of confession. Chris is the man of humility, in fact, the chief sin--pride--is the complete antithesis of the virtue of humility. I'm often reminded when I read Catholic Twitter that a little dose of humility in communication between fellow Catholics would go a long way.

Expand full comment

I absolutely agree, I wish there could be more humility when it comes to dialogue between Catholics on Catholic Twitter. It can get vile, and such uncharitable dialogue is not Christian at all.

Expand full comment

That's a beautiful penance; humility is certainly essential to the Sacrament of Confession. It can be easy on social media to forget that we are talking with a fellow son or daughter of God who must be treated as such; there is something about the screens and avatars that seem to make people think the rules of Christian charity do not apply to social media, unfortunately. I agree that humility would do social media -- and our world -- a lot of good. God bless you!

Expand full comment

One of the strike parts of the litany to me, and I’m paraphrasing, is the petition for those to be holier than me provided that I become as holy as I should be. It’s rather startling.

Expand full comment

I agree, that line has always been the most striking to me as well. It reminds me of the cup analogy that I have heard to explain the different levels of happiness in Heaven. All the souls in Heaven have different sized cups with which to hold their eternal happiness, but everyone's cups are full. I could be wrong on this interpretation, but at least in my own reflection, I think this part of the Litany is asking for the humility to accept a small cup, knowing that we will be filled to bursting with happiness and love in eternity, regardless of anything else.

Expand full comment