Stay humble and simple despite…

AMID the complexities of our life today, we have to learn

to stay humble and simple because that is the basic way to precisely

handle these complexities well. When we are humble and simple we would

know how to blend openness, tolerance and versatility on the one hand,

and to stick to the truth in charity on the other hand.

            Remember Christ telling his disciples: “Look, I am sending

you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and

as innocent as doves.” (Mt 10,16)

            We can interpret these words as Christ telling us that we

can only be shrewd and clever like snakes, capable of being open,

tolerant and versatile to any kind of worldly complicated situations

today when we remain humble and simple like doves. A humility and a

simplicity that would not lead us to be shrewd and clever like

serpents would not be true humility and simplicity. They would simply

be the fake ones.

  

            It is genuine humility and simplicity that would enable us

to face the complexities of our life because these are the virtues

that liken and identify us with Christ. And with Christ, we can manage

to tackle anything.

            Remember that we are told that with God nothing is

impossible. In other words, only with these virtues can we be “capax

Dei,” capable of being like God, sharing his power and wisdom. With

God, we can handle anything.

            Perhaps that is the reason why Christ said: “Learn from

me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for

your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Mt 11,29-30)

            Of course, this is a mysterious and intriguing kind of

reasoning that Christ is telling us. And that is simply because he is

telling us something that is mainly spiritual and supernatural in

character. He is not giving us an indication that is meant to tackle

purely natural situations and predicaments.

            We have to realize that our life does not only have

material, temporal and natural dimensions. It has an eminently

spiritual and supernatural character for which the spiritual and

supernatural means are more important and necessary than the natural

ones.

            We just have to activate our faith to be able to put

ourselves in the proper condition to face the challenges of our life.

And that faith tells us to be humble and simple always even as we wade

through the complexities of today’s life.

            Humility and simplicity are the virtues that would make us

acknowledge that we are nothing without God. They sort of open our

soul for the grace of God to enter. And it is this grace that

transforms us, irrespective of our human impotencies, mistakes and

errors, into becoming children of God.

            And with God’s grace in our soul because of our humility

and simplicity, we can manage to receive the gifts of faith, hope and

charity. We can believe natural truths that not only are difficult to

discover but also to understand. Even more, it is humility and

simplicity that would enable us to believe supernatural truths where

there is no way for us to fully understand them, much less, explain

them in a human way.

            It is humility and simplicity that would enable us to be

like Christ, to be ‘alter Christus,’ who is the pattern of our

humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity. It is when we are

humble and simple that we can manage to bear and to suffer all things,

and to love even our enemies, offering forgiveness to our offenders,

just like what Christ did and continues to do.

            It would be a disaster to us if we respond to the complex

challenges of our times with our own version of convoluted

self-justifications. This happens when we start thinking, judging,

reasoning and concluding without God or, worse, when we think God's

clear commandments are already obsolete, irrelevant, a drag to our

interests, etc.