The second thing to notice about this key virtue is that it is the source of another virtue that we all need and desire: courage.
- Courage is inner strength.
- We all need courage to resist temptations, to persevere through difficulties, and to step out of our comfort zones so we can fulfill our life-mission.
- As Christians, we are soldiers in a spiritual war against evil.
This is not just a friendly ping-pong match.
- We, like Moses, have been called to a task way beyond our natural capacities: the task of becoming holy and building up Christ's Kingdom.
- If we don't have humility, we will flee from this mission, ignore this mission, or trick ourselves into thinking that this really isn't our mission.
- But if we have humility, if we realize, as Jesus said during the Last Supper, that "without me [him] you [we] can do nothing," then the pressure is off.
- When we lean on God and his grace more than on our own abilities, we are not intimidated by the challenges and enemies that are constantly making our lives so difficult.
Do you remember the story of David and Goliath?
- Goliath was nine-and-a-half feet tall.
- He struck fear into the entire Israelite army.
- Even King Saul was afraid to face him in hand-to-hand combat.
- But this teenage shepherd boy, the future king David, heard that Goliath was cursing God and paralyzing the army, and instead of fear, he felt the inspiration of courage.
- Why? Because he knew that God was on his side!
- He faced Goliath, and before destroying him, he told him: "You come before me with sword, and spear, and javelin. But I come before you in the name of the Lord of Hosts... the battle is the Lord's!"
When we depend more on God's supernatural grace than on our natural capacities, we can live supernatural lives, conquering evil instead of being conquered by it.
As the angel told the Blessed Virgin Mary, "For nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).