Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel for this Sunday, August 31, 2025, entitled “He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

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The Gospel invites us to live in humility, just as Jesus did. The Alleluia reminds us of this: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart“.

This is what Jesus did, who, being rich, became poor  (2 Cor 8:9), emptied himself, taking the form of a slave  (Phil 2:6-7).

Seeking first place isn’t a matter of moralism, but rather a sign of a deeper evil: experiencing a great emptiness and profound loneliness in one’s heart. It’s seeking “substitutes” to try to fill an empty and dissatisfied heart.

The problem is that only one can fully fill the heart: God alone is enough! You made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you  (St. Augustine).

If you want to encounter Jesus, you must go to the last place. Because there Jesus is. Hidden in the manger of Bethlehem… hidden in the humiliation of the Cross. And the encounter with Jesus will fill your life.

On the other hand, if you seek positions of honor, you may find the “glamour” of this world, success, money… but the Lord is not there.  There you will find vanity of vanities; all was vanity and chasing after wind (cf.  Qo 2:11).

But what is humility? Humility is the door to faith. It is the “humus,” the good soil in which the seed can be welcomed and bear abundant fruit.

Humility is letting yourself be shaped by the Lord, who shapes you every day with his Word, with your story, with your cross…

Humility is not living in self-sufficiency, but living gratefully in the ecclesial community that the Lord has given you.

Humility isn’t denying the gifts you’ve received. It’s recognizing that they are gifts, that they have been given to you. And freely! Without any merit on your part. And, therefore, living without stealing God’s glory.

Humility is recognizing that you do not give life to yourself; that you do not save yourself. That the only one who can renew the earth—the earth of the world, the earth of your heart—is the Lord, with the gift of his Spirit.

Humility leads you to emerge from narcissistic and self-referential self-sufficiency, from arrogance, from the existential selfie, to recognize that everything is a gift; the humility that leads you to accept your poverty, your weakness, and to surrender them to the Lord for healing; it leads you to enter into your history, the history of your family, of your priesthood, of your religious consecration… and there to encounter the Risen Jesus Christ, who makes everything new through the power of his Spirit.

Humility leads you to trust that the Lord’s standards and plans are better than your own… It leads you to entrust yourself to God’s love, a Love that becomes the measure and criterion of your own life. It leads you to be grateful.

Faith is lived in gratuitousness and expressed in praise. Gratitude is the memory of the heart.

Humbleness is the good soil in which the seed of God’s Word can take root and bear much fruit. How is your heart? How humble are you? Review your life and ask the Lord for the gift of humility. It’s worth it!