Journey of humility: Papal Nuncio invites the faithful to reflect on Mary's prayerful heart

In a heartfelt Christmas reflection, Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Charles John Brown urged Catholics to look to Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem as a profound lesson in humility, prayer, and trust in God’s plan.

Highlighting Mary’s role as a model of prayer and submission, he reminded the faithful that true prayer springs from a humble and contrite heart, much like the young girl from Nazareth who became the mother of the Savior.

In a Christmas season reflection, Brown reminded the faithful that Mary is the model of prayer. She sacrificed her own plans and submitted to the will of God.

“Our Lady is the perfect example of humility,” he said. “Imagine, God came into this world through the humility of a young girl from Nazareth. A young girl living not in the center, not in the capital, not in Jerusalem, but in the pheriperies.”

“We can see Godprefers” people with a humble heart to receive His gifts, the Papal Nuncio said. “And that’s true of prayer also. Humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly recognize our weakness and our need are we ready and able to receive the gifts of prayer.”

In praying, the faithful should recite words not from the height of pride and own will, but from the depths of a humble and contrite heart, Brown reminded.

“If we are going to pray, we need to pray with humility,” he said. “We need to be humble before God. The catechism teaches us that humility is the foundation of prayer.”

According to Saint Augustine, man is a beggar before the eyes of God.

He stated people coming to car windows begging for money are seen in Rome, New York, Manila, and anywhere else.

“The beggar who comes to the door of your car and knocks on the window is an image of what you look like in front of God,” he said. 

Brown clarified he was not saying that people should share their money with every single person who is asking because it’s “probably impossible, but to be regular in treating the poor with kindness.”

“The heart of the human person is the place where we pray,” he said. “If the heart is far from God, then the words that we pray are in vain.”

The heart is where the person exists, Brown added. People may not understand one’s heart, but the spirit of God can understand it fully. Every prayer starts from the heart.

Saint Augustine also said the life of every good Christian is a life of holy desire, the Papal envoy stated. 

“The human heart should not only desire God, but also desires to be converted by God,” he said.

“Prayer is a gift from God,” Brown said. “The ability to pray comes from the inspiration of God’s grace. Even the fact that we are able to pray is already the effect of God’s grace in our lives.”

Catechism and Saint Augustine say that prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with our thirst, Brown explained.

“God thirst that we might thirst for him,” he said. “God thirsts for our thirst. So, the very fact that we feel a need for God means that His grace is already at work for us.”

Prayer is “a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God,” Brown pointed out.

“For us Christians, our relationship with God is everything,” he said. “Therefore, everything is somehow connected to prayer.”

Brown recalled the words of St. John Damascene that “Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God”. 

John Damascene, or John of Damascus, was an Arab Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and apologist.

Brown wished everyone a Merry Christmas.