November 3, 2026 // Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time // Optional Memorial of Saint Martin de Porres, Religious

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

Reflect on the Word // 

I was filled to the brim with unquenchable anguish as I spent months pouring out my heart for an intention that weighed heavily on my heart. That intention wasn’t being resolved in the way I desired. My self-reliance and control shifted my intercession into a place where I tried to “be” God. I was convinced that the outcome was all up to me. As time went on, and even now, I still have to face my littleness, which is discouraging at times. Yet, it has allowed my heart to open up to a deeper reality of Who He is. 

In today’s First Reading, I was captivated by Saint Paul’s encouragement to “have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Then describing Jesus’ humility in the Father, Paul writes, “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). Jesus was not using His identity to control; instead He was humble and obeyed the Father’s will. 

Jesus knows Who He is and Who the Father is. Our faith journeys require humility with one another, and humility with God, as the Catechism states, “Humility is the foundation of prayer” (CCC 2559). I’ve wrestled with this virtue, often mistaking it for self-loathing. But I’m learning that humility is turning my heart outwards towards God. It’s remembering Who God is and who I am. The Lord delights in littleness because it invites the heart to be completely dependent on Him, Who provides more than imagined. Our Lord’s greatness is not based on control; He acts only out of pure and sacrificial love: “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death” (Philippians 2:8).

Humility allows us to acknowledge our areas of weakness, which is necessary for our spiritual growth, but this virtue is more than looking inward. Humility roots us in our identity and reveals our never-ending need for the Lord. It opens up our hearts to allow Him to do only what He can do. Let us remember who we are, and Who He is. 

Relate to the Lord // Meditate on the virtue of humility and pray to have an increase in the knowledge of who God is and who you are.