WORD 2day: Thursday, 24th week in Ordinary time
September 17, 2020: I Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 7: 36-50
By the grace of God I am what I am, declares St. Paul in today's first reading. That statement brings out two salient features of a truly Spiritual person. The first is Humility; the other quality which flows from it, Gratitude.
Humility is a sign that one knows oneself, understands oneself, places oneself in the right perspective and accepts what the Lord has called one towards. It is not abasing or belittling oneself - that would be a misunderstanding of the virtue. Humility is knowing who one really is, accepting it wholeheartedly and striving to grow into what one is called to be! Where does this clarity come from: from the very source of our being. Yes. humility is looking at oneself from the perspective of God, from the eyes of the One who made, who loved us into existence!
Gratitude is an inevitable quality if one really wishes to identify oneself as "spiritual". Because a grateful heart is a holy heart, and only a grateful heart can really be holy! At times we come across persons who call themselves 'spiritual' by their self-proclaimed status or by the role that they play in the common life of the society or by the others proclaiming them so - but as soon as they begin to speak, or as soon as they begin to act, there is so much of paradox! They boast of themselves, they come across arrogant and they despise everyone who is not in keeping with their views and opinions! Can these be really the 'spiritual' people that they claim to be? This arrogance and boasting actually comes from lack of gratitude, not acknowledging the fact that they have been raised to that position despite their unworthiness by God who is the Lord of history.
Looking at the woman who was forgiven in the Gospel today, we see that she was offered a totally new life and that made her so exuberantly grateful that she did not hesitate to express it through all means she thought would help. She was really a spiritual person, not those who sat around judging her!
The episode of this woman, the example of St. Paul and the Word altogether today remind us of a crucial truth: a humble person is spiritual and a grateful person is holy.