St. Lucy, Virgin Martyr
Numbers 24:2-7,15-17  +  Matthew 21:23-27
December 13, 2021

He guides the humble to justice, / he teaches the humble his way.

Humility is not a virtue with much currency in the modern world.  The modern world would be more likely to consider humility a vice or stumbling block to virtue.  The modern world’s key principle is what Nietzsche called the “will to power”.

Yet the Gospel from beginning to end is a way marked by humility.  We might say that humility is in fact each step along this way.  This is why St. Thérèse called the living of the Gospel the “Little Way”.

This little way begins with St. John the Baptist, who in different ways appears at the start of each of the four Gospel accounts.  This way leads to Mount Calvary and the Via Dolorosa.  There we learn that the Cross is the Lord’s will to power.  Let’s listen to St. John the Baptist’s message since he teaches us the first steps along His way.