Humility in Knowledge

Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts, neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity. Saint Therese of Lisieux

Recently, I was at an appointment. The younger agent pulled out a notebook and wrote down what he needed to do. I looked at him with some surprise. I asked, why are you using a pen? He shrugged off the question with a simple answer that he uses that all the time. A doctor I was visiting was using a prescription pad and a pen. I asked, are you not using a computer? And he looked at me and simply replied – pen! I was quite surprised that these two incidents would happen in a world where we are so addicted to technology. People walk around with their phones and video chats at high volume - oblivious to others. It surprises me how much we have become indifferent to others. In my city, I have been taking a group of people to volunteer at a charitable work dedicated to the less fortunate. Few of them are Catholic, let alone religious, but they come with a zeal that I have never seen. In a world that seems to have forgotten the spiritual realm, there are signs of hope. Recently I had my name day. I try to remember it every year. I am named after Saint Daniel Comboni. He worked diligently in Africa, and he suffered for it. Sometimes we live in simplicity, and it is not so easy.

There is more value in a little study of humility than in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world. Saint Teresa of Avila

Saint Daniel Comboni founded missions in Africa, help supress the slave trade, worked in science, geography and spoke more than a few languages. By 1880, he had traveled to Africa for the final time. He became sick during a cholera epidemic and died. "I am dying, but my work will not die." Pope Leo XIII mourned the loss of the bishop as a "great loss". Recently, Pope Leo XIV spoke to men and women of the consecrated life. "With your vitality and the witness of a life centered on Christ as Lord, you can help 'awaken the world,'" he said in his address. We need to be reminded that there are many rooms in the Father’s house. In his speech to those who follow this vocation need to be reminded that our world needs witnesses more than ever. Pope Leo also named Saint John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church. This is a great honour for someone who at great risk left the Church of England to join the Catholic Church. There are also many other examples that we need to look at. It is in all this simplicity that our Lord enters.

“Therefore, I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away…..” Saint John Henry Newman

We need to continue to look at where we need to go and what road is for us. Recently, in a conversation with my dear friends in the Carmel Cloister, I told them how my life is changing. They reminded me that God still has a plan despite that there might seem to be confusion. Our Lord is the way who makes crooked paths straight. Confusion does not come from God. Listening to the audiobook of St. Teresa of Avila, she reminds her sisters how important it is to remain faithful, to stay strong and to pray. These may be words for cloistered nuns, but they are words for us as well. We need to be vigilant in our faith and never take it for granted. In the end, “God prevails”, as dear Pope Leo reminds us.

We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone. -Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini