1 Kings 18:41-46 / Matthew 5:20-26
The mother of all virtues is humility.
But it is indeed difficult to be humble.
The human tendency is to be proud and egoistic.
And that is expressed in defiance to authority and to superiors.
In the first reading, Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel and bowed down to the earth, putting his face between his knees.
In that posture of humility, he prayed to God for rain to end the drought that is causing a famine on the land.
Then he told his servant to look out to the sea.
The servant went to look and came back to tell Elijah that there is nothing at all.
Then Elijah told the servant to go back seven times.
The servant could have defied Elijah, since there was nothing at the first time, then no matter how many times he went up, there would still be nothing at all.
But the servant humbly obeyed and at the seventh time, there appeared a small cloud, and subsequently the sky grew dark with cloud and storm, and rain fell in torrents.
With the humble prayer of Elijah and the humble obedience of the servant, God rained down His blessings on the earth.
And it is in humble prayer and obedience that our virtues will grow deeper.
The fruit of humility will be the blessing of forgiveness and reconciliation with others.
And it is with humility and obedience to God that our prayers will be answered.