“The greater you are, the more humbly you should behave, and then you will find favour with the Lord.” Sirach 3:18
Humility is not an easy virtue. Our natural tendency is to grow in pride as we grow in greatness. But the Lord gives us the measure to become truly great: the more we are exalted, the more humble we should become. This requires us to grow more in the knowledge of God’s mercy towards us and in the knowledge of our nothingness. Let us work hard to grow in humility.“Love uprightness you who are rulers on earth, be properly disposed towards the Lord and seek Him in simplicity of heart.” Wisdom 1:1
God commissioned human beings to fill the earth and to subdue it. When God addresses us as rulers, He wishes to remind us about the charge He has laid upon us, to rule - that is conduct the affairs of the spirit, soul and body which has been placed under our control in uprightness. Uprightness makes our rule well-founded; injustice makes it collapse. Let us therefore love what is upright and hate what is evil. Let us take great care to prepare our hearts, thoughts and dispositions aright with humility, simplicity and modesty because it is by means of our heart and our thoughts which proceed from it that we either rise or fall in God’s presence.“Turn your back on evil and do good, you will have a home for ever.”Psalm 37:27
Evil has an attractive power - true; but the Lord tells us that it is attractive only to those who have remnants of evil in themselves. To all those who are truly holy, evil is always wicked, no matter in whatever form it appears. Evil completely destroys those who play with it; and therefore the Lord admonishes us, as long as we have life us, to deliver ourselves from all remnansts of evil and to save ourselves - in this way safeguarding ourselves and our benfactors.Now as he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven. Luke 24:51
Jesus had come from Heaven into the world to be with men and teach them about the Father with His actions and His words. After completing His mission, He ascended in full view of His Apostles back to the Father from whence He had come. The Ascension of Christ drew the hearts and minds of the Apostles to the Father’s right hand, so that from that point of time, their hearts and minds belonged solely to the world above, where the Father and Son were enthroned, and no longer to the world below.“When wisdom comes into your heart and knowledge fills your soul with delight, then prudence will be there to watch over you, and understanding will be your guardian.” (Proverbs 2:10-11)
There are many gifts which God bestows on those who win His favour. The first is the wisdom from above, which proceeds from fear of the Lord. The second is holy knowledge which is bestowed on those with wisdom and fills us with heavenly delights. Those with wisdom and knowledge further receive prudence, which keeps a strict watch over every external and internal movement proceeding from human thought, intellect or will - nothing escapes the prudent. Finally, understanding crowns those with wisdom, knowledge and prudence and guards the soul, ensuring all it’s precious treasures and jewels of wisdom and knowledge are always kept secure.