Newsletter Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) 1st February, 2026

Newsletter 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) 1st February, 2026.pdf

Download PDF • 513KB

GOSPEL REFLECTION (By Fr Doug Harris)

In the first reading, Our Lord says through the Prophet Zephaniah that what He wants is people who are humble.  In the second reading St Paul writes: “If anyone want to boast, let them boast about the Lord.”  Today’s Gospel theme is the Beatitudes.  The first beatitude is: “Happy the poor in spirit, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” A person “poor in spirit” is aware they are utterly hopeless or spiritually poverty stricken without God’s Grace. If we have any good qualities we cannot boast, because they were given by God.  Pride is a deadly sin.  It is the sin of Lucifer who wanted to be greater than God.  Humility is the exact opposite.  It is a virtue of Christ who St Paul said (Philippians 2:6-8): “Although he was in the form of God he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself taking the form of a slave being born human and being found in human form he humbled himself even more, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Psalm 22:6 describes the Messiah “but I am a worm and not human;” (scorned by others and despised by the people).  He could not have become littler/smaller, humbler: On at least one occasion He called Himself a slave.  He freely chose to become the littlest of the littlest, the least of the least, the slave of slaves.  A radical infinite littleness.  His littleness, His humility is too much, too radical for us to grasp with our minds.  Although He was God, He chose for mere humans to treat Him cruelly, even to crucify Him.  So that the punishment due to us for our sins would be paid for by Him, who is innocent.  God’s humility goes so far that, although He is God, He reduced Himself to mere bread, so that He may be eaten so that we, the ones who crucified Him, may become One with Him and He may become One with us.  God becomes lower than human mere bread, only so that we by eating Him we can share in His divinity.  There is a story of our Blessed mother’s humility (this brings me to my knees, so to speak, when I talk about it).  Karen, a young lady, was invited to speak about our Blessed Mother in a large church in New York in 1996.  Karen gave a wonderful description of our Blessed Mother.  Karen said one point which stood out.  She said, “Our Blessed Mother is the most powerful of all creatures against Satan because she is the humblest.”  Old hairy legs didn’t like Karen stating that.  As Karen said the word “humble”, the church had a blackout.  All the lights went out as did the microphone. And outside, near the church, an enormous tree was struck by lightning even though there was no rain or storm.  Humility is very powerful.  A humble person defeats Satan and changes the world.  (A humble person is an ‘afront’ to Satan who is all pride).   St Therese of the Child Jesus inspires us by her humility.  She described herself as a broom.  The broom waits behind the door or in a cupboard.  The broom is never upset when the Master of the House purchases a new and better broom and completely discards the old one.  St Therese of the Child Jesus once prayed, “Lord Jesus never let me be a burden, rather let me be no more than a grain of sand trampled underfoot and forgotten…only let your will be done in me Amen.”  Lord Jesus, help us to carry our crosses, all of our trials, any sufferings and humiliations as you, Jesus, carried your Cross in order to give divine life to the world.  How many times do we think about ourselves in a day?  For example, what do people think of us?  Am I seen by such and such a person of a level I want them to see me?  When we are preoccupied with ourselves, it means we have pride, which Jesus never had, and we are called to never have.  Our Lord Jesus calls all of us to strive to have the same level of humility as Himself.  But in order to have this level of humility we need to spend time with Him. The best place to spend time with Him is in His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament where He is seen as a mere piece of bread.  Let us pray: ‘The Litany of Humility.’ (just 6 lines of the Litany) The response is “Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.”  See Pieta Booklet p.69  LITANY OF HUMLITY (for private devotion only) Which His Eminence Cardinal Merry del Val was accustomed to recite daily after the celebration of Holy Mass.  Response is “Jesus grant me the grace to desire it”.  That others may be loved more than I. That others may be esteemed more than I.  That others may be chosen, and I set aside, that others may be praised and I unnoticed.  That others may be preferred to me in everything.  That others become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should be.