Mary's Model of Humility - Weekday Homily Video

Mary continues to draw people back to her Son relying on her obedience and humility as 
a vessel for God’s mission towards human salvation. Today as we are celebrating our Lady of 
Guadalupe, Mary becomes a messenger and a mother who seeks out the lost. She becomes 
a co-shepherd to her son. She goes out to seek the lost in the land where mission seemed 
impossible due to traditional beliefs. She relied on her humble “yes” and she continues to 
live this even today. Mary’s "yes" remains active portrayed by her many apparitions calling 
out humanity to embrace renewal, healing, repentance and above all salvation through her 
Son. 

St Augustine once said, “If you ask me what essential thing in the religion and discipline of 
Jesus Christ, I shall reply: first humility, second humility and third humility.” Society today 
exposes ideologies that encourage the pridefulness of life. Mary is our best model of this 
humility. She accepts God’s will with strong desire. A burning desire to bring forth the Savior. 
Although she questions of how this will be done yet she believes that it is possible with God. 
St Theresa of Child Jesus gives us three ways of examining our humility. The first one is that 
true humility is deep awareness of who we are in relation to God. Our Mother said she is 
“handmaid of the Lord.” She took herself as a servant, willing to accept and submit to Divine 
Will. As handmaid, she questions not but follows trusting in Divine Providence.

Trusting God God to Guide Us

During my initial training in religious life, I was assigned to work in prison. This was not an 
easy task for me to accept. Having a lot of fears, prejudices and biases about prison, I felt 
betrayed and disliked by my formation director. I saw myself as a young person and with a 
language barrier since this was a new country. I could not accept this mission easily and so 
I avoided the Formator that night during dinner. I did not want to greet him or seat near him. 
However, when I began this ministry, it turned out to be fulfilling and joyful. Sometimes it is 
the worry of tomorrow that blocks us from being humble enough to accept God’s will and 
trust that he will guide us. 

The second way of humility according to St Theresa is recognizing our failures and depending 
on God entirely. This counteracts doubts of faith. St Vincent De Paul, says “the most 
powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility.” This is the reason many times Mary is 
depicted to step on the head of the serpent/Satan. Humility makes us understand our 
weakness and our fragility, and therefore we seek forgiveness with the sincerity of our hearts. 
Humility scares the devil. Are we humble enough to accept our failures before God and 
others for renewed life? Are we meek enough to acknowledge our weaknesses before our 
spouses, brothers and sisters and let God renew us?

See Ourselves as God Sees Us

The last way of humility according to St Theresa of Child Jesus is to see ourselves as God 
sees us and recognize the dignity and value of people around us. The world teaches extreme 
competition and wants us to emulate the principle of “struggle for fittest” without minding 
the others around us. There can never be true humility without charity. We can never 
exercise true humility while ignoring those around us. Mary’s first step of humility was to visit 
her cousin Elizabeth. Humility attracts service, service brings unity, unity administers peace, 
peace brings joy and through joy, love of God is sustained. How is humility manifested in our 
families? Those moments I spare for my spouse instead of watching my favorite movie or 
channel. Those moments I call my family to pray together, and to go for mass together. Those 
moments I stand with the elder parent by helping him or her. Those moments I step in to 
reconcile breaking families. Those moments I become patient with that family member. All 
this fulfills humility in us. Our Lady of Guadulupe, pray for us. Amen 

• Today’s Readings
  
  
• Father Joachim's inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center this morning. You can view the Mass (and the Rosary at the 30-minute mark) on the Family Rosary YouTube page.
  
  
• To join the Rosary and Mass Livestream, visit the Family Rosary YouTube or Facebook page at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, Monday – Friday. Consider inviting others to join too! (*If you are not a member of Facebook and a signup window appears, simply select the X at the top of the pop-up message and continue to the livestream.)