Opening Prayer
I humble myself before Thee, remembering that only a few years ago I was an abyss of nothingness. Forgive me for the times I have used my existence to rebel against Thee rather than serve Thee. I confess that I am the work of Thy hands, a soul brought out of the void by Thy mercy.
I petition Thee for a heart of wonder, grateful that Thou calledst me forth—not because Thou neededst me, but solely out of Thy goodness. Bestow upon my soul a nature capable of eternal union with Thee, and let my whole life now be rendered as thanks to the great and good Creator who remembered me.
Amen.
Luke 12:32-34
32Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom. 33Sell what you possess and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, a treasure in heaven which faileth not: where no thief approacheth, nor moth corrupteth. 34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
St. Francis de Sales
St. Francis de Sales invites us to consider that a “few years ago you hadn’t yet been born”. God made us solely out of His goodness. This Spiritual exercise humbles the “unruly affections”. In the Mystical Body, we realize that “without God, we’re nothing”. This realization prepares us for the Eucharist, where we recognize our “dignity” as “adopted sons”. We are “adapted to live eternally and to be perfectly united to God’s divine majesty”, a nature that is the highest of this visible world.
Francis de Sales urges us to “humble yourself utterly before God”, acknowledging that our nature is a gift. He calls us to “confess your own shame” for rebelling against the Creator through “unruly affections” and to say with wonder, “I am the work of Your hands”.
“Lord, I’m nothing compared to you. What am I, that you should even remember me?… O great and good Creator, what don’t I owe you?”
— St. Francis de Sales
Mary and the Magisterium
Mary is the “Mother of the recreated world” who realized her own “lowliness”. The Magisterium, through the Bishop, “preserves the unity” of the teaching that “creation was not so vast a work as redemption”. The Pope acts as the “servant of the servants”, reflecting this creative humility. Mary, as the “Mirror of Virtue”, shows us how to “render due thanks” to the Goodness that brought us out of the abyss of nothingness.
- "Where were you then, my soul?"
- How does reflecting on my "nothingness" before birth help me cultivate a spirit of gratitude and "loving service" today?
Closing Prayer
Bless the Lord, my soul, and praise his holy name with all your being, because his goodness called me forth from nothingness.
Amen.
