“Great are You, O Lord,
(Confessions, I, 1, 1)
and greatly to be praised”
Dear brothers and sisters,
In just a few days, the communal and pastoral year will begin in many of our communities. Over the past year, we have experienced many celebrations: ordinations, vows, anniversaries, and more. But it is also with great sorrow that we have accompanied those who have gone before us to the Father’s house. We have lived through all these celebrations in faith.
On this feast of Saint Augustine, we wish to renew this faith and hope, especially as we begin a new community year. Some will be moving to a new community, others will be taking on new responsibilities, and still others will continue the work they have been doing until now. Despite these changes in location or role, one thing remains unshakeable: the Lord who called us continues to place his trust in us. Despite our limitations and mistakes, the Lord continues to offer us new opportunities to discover him, to love him, and to serve him. May his name be praised.
Why not begin this communal and pastoral year with this confession? “Great are You, O Lord, and greatly to be praised,” following the example of our patriarch, Saint Augustine. Human smallness in the face of God’s greatness might stimulate fear and flight. But this God has revealed to us just how much his greatness lies in his love and goodness toward us. Those who have experienced this love and goodness are the ones who, like Saint Augustine, exclaim: “Great are You, O Lord, and greatly to be praised.” Why shouldn’t you, too?
Accepting our smallness seems, at first glance, to signify our exclusion from a society that has made the pursuit of “greatness” one of its most cherished games. Yet experience reveals the exact opposite. That is why Saint Augustine tells us that humility, far from being a renunciation of greatness, is in fact the foundation upon which true greatness is built. This humility is what allows us to “let God be God.” There is no doubt that God “exalts the humble.” That is why Father d’Alzon said that humility is the most essential virtue for every Assumptionist religious.
Dear brothers and sisters, I do not intend to turn a message of good wishes into a catechesis. But I did not want to miss this opportunity to share with you one of my deepest convictions as a Christian and an Assumptionist religious. May this beginning of our communal or pastoral year be an opportunity to rediscover the greatness of smallness. And may this one day lead us to make this confession: “Great are You, O Lord, and greatly to be praised.”
Happy feast day!
Fraternally,
Fr. Ngoa Ya Tshihemba, a.a.
Superior General