“The soul’s true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His presence, completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing; because the Lord is great, but He is well-pleased only with the humble; He always opposes the proud.” Divine Mercy in my Soul # 1711
Humus (noun) – {hyoo-muhs or, often, yoo-}: the dark organic material in soils, produced by the decomposition of vegetable or animal matter and essential to the fertility of the earth.
From humus we get the words human; Adam (man) whom God drew from the earth (Genesis 2:7) and humility.
The New Testament word for worship is “proskuneo” which means “to prostrate oneself”.
“Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.” – Saint Augustine
Sitting here thinking of the ties humility has with humus (earth), I can only think how in humility, we lower ourselves to the “earth” before God. St. Louis de Blois wrote, “The first degree of humility is the fear of God, which we should constantly have before our eyes.”
A soul seeking God with a contrite heart for its sin and in humility should never fear to come before God’s majesty. None of us are worthy to come before this King but this is not a time of fear as the world would define fear. This is a time of AWE.
The fear of the Lord is one of the most valuable treasures that we can gain, because God is our Creator, and if we are to find true success, we have to live according to His design. He knows what is best for our lives. As we gain wisdom about His ways and choose to value what He values, we will mature as His children and our lives will be blessed.
The Bible mentions many benefits of fearing the Lord, including the promise of Proverbs 22:4: “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life.”
When I finally ‘came’ to the Lord nearly two decades ago, it was in real fear of the judgment I had worked the prior 3 1/2 decades to earn. When I hit my knees that night and prayed for God to rescue me, it was more a prayer of “God don’t judge or condemn me”. Imperfect contrition. I praise and thank God that He is powerful enough to take this very small and imperfect offering I was making and exponentially multiply its graces.
My first thoughts when I first heard about and later read about the coming Illumination of Conscience was fear and worry. I was terrified to stand before God in this moment and witness all the sins I’ve committed. I knew the judgment cast wouldn’t be good. Then, St. Faustina intervened and reminded me of all Jesus’ promises with Divine Mercy. She told me to trust in Jesus and His Mercy. I had nothing to fear. With that realization, I could hear the demons of despair and fear and unworthiness running away in fear.
It’s not that I have anything to be proud of by knowing Jesus and His infinite Divine Mercy. On the contrary, I cry out like Isaiah, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Isaiah 6:5 But, in that humbled moment facing the Majesty of God, the “seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph[b] touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Isaiah 6:6-7
Someday every person (and demon) will stand before God’s judgment seat facing every thought, word, action, attitude, and motive of our life. We will sin every sin, no matter how small that we’ve ever committed against God – “in my thoughts, in my words, what I have done and failed to do”.
Whether we face that judgment moment at our death or in the coming Illumination of souls doesn’t really matter. We need to look at each moment in the eyes of eternity. Jesus recently spoke to my heart, “Are you ready to meet Me?” If one can’t answer that question with a yes, you need to determine the block and remove it. Ask God for forgiveness of the sin – now. Then, schedule time with Jesus through a priest for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And, trust His promises. His promises of love and mercy are the hallmarks of all Holy Scripture and the Diary of St. Faustina. His message is one of a burning desire to let His Mercy pour out upon our souls.
We need to drop and renounce the pride of fear, the pride of unworthiness, the pride of despair and mostly the pride of our sins and humble ourselves before Mercy.
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” – Saint Augustine
“. I desire that My mercy be worshiped, and I am giving mankind the last hope of salvation; that is, recourse to My mercy.” Divine Mercy in my soul # 998