Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 339

"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.

 G enesis tells us that God came down to see how things were going in Babel and then, displeased with what he saw, came down lower to confuse their languages. It is a comical story about human impudence and God's sovereign authority. But the story reminds us of many other passages in the Bible where the Lord comes down to attend to his pathetic human creatures. 

Psalm 4:2

Surely, I wait for the LORD;
who bends down to me and hears my cry

Psalm 18: 6 

In my distress I called out: LORD!

I cried out to my God.

From his temple he heard my voice;

my cry to him reached his ears.

The earth rocked and shook;

the foundations of the mountains trembled;

they shook as his wrath flared up.

Smoke rose from his nostrils,

a devouring fire from his mouth;

it kindled coals into flame.

He parted the heavens and came down,

a dark cloud under his feet.

...the LORD was my support.

He set me free in the open;

he rescued me because he loves me.

And there are many passages which assure us of God's attentive eyes and ears upon us: 

Psalm 34:16

The eyes of the LORD are directed toward the righteous

and his ears toward their cry.

Psalm 66:19

But God did hear

and listened to my voice in prayer.

Psalm 86:6-7  

LORD, hear my prayer;

listen to my cry for help.

On the day of my distress I call to you,

for you will answer me.

In the Gospels and the New Testament, we find fulfillment of these promises in the stories of Jesus's birth, life, and death among us. By his Incarnation he has become one of us with an ennate knowledge of human fear, anxiety, dread, pain, and suffering which is incomprehensible to gods, angels, and wealthy human beings. 

The most important text is the song found in Philippians 2:6-11 

...though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.

Rather, he emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

coming in human likeness;

and found human in appearance,

he humbled himself,

becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross....

It is impossible to exhaust this subject of God's humility, which the theologians call kenosis.  But everyone can renounce the self, take up their cross, and follow in his steps. 

Hear the exhortation of Saint Francis as he contemplated the mystery of the Eucharist: 

Let everyone be struck with fear,

let the whole world tremble,

and let the heavens exult

when Christ, the Son of the living God,

is present on the altar in the hands of a priest!

O wonderful loftiness and stupendous dignity!

O sublime humility!

O humble sublimity!

The Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God,

so humbles Himself

that for our salvation He hides Himself

under an ordinary piece of bread!

Brothers, look at the humility of God,

and pour out your hearts before Him! Ps 62:9 

Humble yourselves

that you may be exalted by Him! 1 Pt 5:6 James 4:10

Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves,

that He Who gives Himself totally to you

may receive you totally!