+JMJ
"We would wish to fall generously, nobly…What an illusion! We would never want to fall? What does it matter, Jesus, if I fall at each moment? It shows me my weakness and for this reason is a great gain for me. It shows you what I am able to do and now you will be more tempted to carry me in your arms."
(St. Therese)
In the well known play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, a common flower girl, Eliza Doolitle, seeks to employ Henry Higgins upon learning that he can help her garner a position selling flowers in a shop rather than hocking them off the street. Spurned after hearing her "Lisson Grove lingo", Eliza foolishly believes that her conveyance in a taxi will impress Higgins, persuading him that she is a woman of worth and wealth. The reader may smile at the girl's ridiculous reasoning, but also pities her for her ignorance.
How our heavenly Father must look upon man in the same way as one looks at this simple London girl! He observes man trying desperately to impress others with his worth and prowess but only succeeds in displaying the absurdity of his claim. It is in refusing to recognize his deficiencies that man finds frustration. It it his constant fear of humiliation which depresses and discourages him.
What an irony it is that the one creature who could have boasted of her perfections, rejoiced in her limitations! Mary, our dearest Mother, shines in her humility as man grovels in his hubris. Yet he need not continue to be thwarted by unrealistic and unattainable ambitions—be they material or spiritual. Rather, he must not only take Mary as his model, but truly claim her as his helper. For she surely supported St. Joseph in his moments of discouragement when he strove to provide for the Holy Family. And undoubtedly she encouraged the apostles when they struggled to carry out the task Her Son commissioned them to do. One can imagine the twelve going to her often, confident that they would find the succor they needed.
But one cannot be lifted up without lowering himself first. If he stubbornly clings to his pride, man only finds misery amidst frustration. But by humbly and realistically acknowledging his inabilities, relinquishing his bloated sense of self and his herculean grip of ego, man lightens his load so much that he becomes like a little one who abandons his toys to be carried and comforted by the mother he loves so dearly.
