an offer that is often refused
“Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” —Matthew 23:12
The Lord invites us: “Come now, let us set things right” (Is l:18). It takes genuine humility to accept the Lord’s invitation. Pride is one of the seven capital sins (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1866). Pride is considered by some spiritual masters to be the chief of all sins, that sin from which all others arise. “Pride is the reservoir of sin” (Sir 10:13).
A reluctance to repent and confess our sins may well be rooted in pride. God’s offer to set things right shows a great humility on His part, like the humility of the father of the prodigal son. The father of the prodigal son abandoned his dignity in his desire to free both his sons from their sins. He ran out to meet his wayward younger son (Lk 15:20) and left a celebration to go out into the field to meet his angry older son (Lk 15:23, 28). The older son was too proud and too furious to accept his father’s invitation to “set things right.”
Are we like the older brother of the prodigal son — too proud to repent? After all, in our mind, we are not in the wrong; rather, we are the wronged, the offended. Jesus declared that the scribes and Pharisees, in their pride and in their “rightness” (see Lk 18:11), were at fault by failing to accept His many offers to repent and “set things right” (see Mt 21:32, 34ff).
The Lord humbled Himself to offer to set things right (Phil 2:8). Can we humble ourselves to accept His offer?
Prayer: Father, I accept Your invitation to set things right. I will humble myself, repent of my sins, and go to Confession as soon as possible.
Promise: “To him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.” —Ps 50:23
Praise: St. Cyril zealously dedicated himself to instructing catechumens. His lessons have been passed on for seventeen centuries.
Reference: (This teaching was submitted by a member of our editorial team.)
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