Sunday August 31: Humility and the Heavenly Banquet

To Practice:

• In her book Thoughts Matter, Mary Margaret Funk offers advice on dealing with the spiritual conundrum of vainglory or self-exaltation, when “the self takes credit for good actions.” It’s a tricky issue, for when we make spiritual progress a goal, the ego can fall into self-inflation, or the opposite: self-dejection. How, then, might one move toward genuine humility? Funk writes: “Maintain yourself with solemn care and watch for the signs of vainglory. They can be detected by observing yourself … [when] being competitive, telling remarkable tales about yourself, seeking the credit, or taking on … the role of the hero. … Through watchfulness of thoughts, I can edit, redirect, and change thoughts about myself that are either high (praise) or low (dejection). The practice of humility encourages me to think about myself exactly as I am [neither too high nor too low].” She suggests ceaseless prayer, for “when prayer is automatically going on in the heart, vainglory cannot exist.” Practices that reduce vainglory do so by “placing the good action, thought, or motivation in the light of God’s goodness, not my own.” If you would like to learn more about how to weave this kind of practice into your daily life, Contemplative Outreach offers instructions on Active Prayer Practice HERE and HERE.

• Consider adapting a version of metta as a prayer whenever we’re tempted to put ourselves or our ideas first, or when a tendency to blame another arises. For example, bless the other with part or all of this version of metta:
  May you be happy and safe;
  May you be healthy in body and mind;
  May you always have enough;
  And may your heart know Peace.

For more on using metta in this way, go here.

• Watch the movie Babette’s Feast, based on Isak Dinisen’s novel, as a meditation on this week’s themes of humility, selfless generosity, community, and heavenly banquets. It is available on several streaming platforms and at libraries.

If you wish to re-read the full email reflection, you may do so here: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2025_word-of-the-week-aug31

 

Yesterday  during the group C.P./Lectio{viso}/sharing, two words in the chosen text stood out for me: “new light” and “sheer humility”. “New light ” connection was front and centre , many years ago, when John 8:12 was given to me and has shaped my discernment since then; Christ is my light, not my egoic self. This week it was like a consolation and a further dip into “humility”: “what’s mine to do/what is not mine to do”. “Sheer humility” brought to mind Elijah’s experience at the mouth of the cave experience (1Kg:9), “the still small voice= {sheer silence}. In this context. “Sheer humility “can only be received/revealed once our task is completed and our last breath given. As Jesus gave his last breath :” it is completed”. Somehow the image does not speak to me of humility. Humility is not a grasping but a total opening of  hands with fruit spilling over as a gesture of  blessing…”sheer humility”!

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