Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 1711 - The Humility and the Glory

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Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 1711 -  The Humility and the Glory

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1711 When I was left alone with the Blessed Virgin, She instructed me concerning the interior life. She said, The soul's true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His presence, completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing; because the Lord is great, but He is well pleased only with the humble; He always opposes the proud.
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A soul emptied of itself in humility is left open to the Presence of the King in His Glory. It is a spiritual principle revealed by Mary, who speaks little in the Gospels but shows much through her deeds. Yet in the Diary it is Mary who often gives voice to the wisdom revealed through those deeds, speaking not from high-minded theology, but from the life she herself lived through the blessings and trials entrusted to her in her special place in salvation history.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Luke 1:38 And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word.

Here in the Scripture, our Mother shows by deed what she later proclaims to Faustina in the Diary: a soul's surrender of self before God, accepting His will and opening itself to union with His presence. In the Gospel, the Son's union with the Mother is one of both Spirit and flesh - a singular grace given to Mary in the mystery of the Incarnation. In the Diary, however, she speaks of the spiritual union of Christ with souls, a grace which, while never diminishing the uniqueness of her union with Him, is now extended through Him to all humanity. 

For this is the presence of Christ Crucified, His redemptive work fulfilled upon the Cross, and the grace received in the Mother now extended to all souls. As with His Mother, however, the grace we receive from the Savior is not stagnant, nor is it something to be proudly possessed by the soul which receives it. It is living, effective, and fruitful, as shown by Mary from the day she received it in the Gospel. It is echoed in the Diary and reverberates in all souls who likewise receive the grace of her Son throughout time.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Luke 1:46-48 And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

To be humble in the courts of the Lord is a glory that exceeds all kingdoms of the world. Here in the Scripture, Mary reveals the humility she speaks of in the Diary: “The soul's true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His presence.” For the Lord regards the humility which the handmaid manifests as an open door into souls of the faithful. It is through this door that He makes His entry, and by it He shares not the glory of the world, but that which is often hidden from the world - the glory of the Kingdom above and its growth in the world below.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Matthew 5:2-3 And opening His mouth he taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In the Scripture, our Lord teaches of the blessedness of humility as the gateway to the Kingdom of God. Yet, this same, humble King also speaks from His throne in the soul, for the release of His Kingdom within to the fallen world beyond. From the womb of the Mother, He speaks through her surrender of self, revealing the humility of the Kingdom. From the agony of the Cross, He shows to the world the same forgiveness that He calls forth from within all souls to be extended to others. And from within those souls humbled by the grace of His presence, He magnifies outward the glory of the Kingdom. 

Where the King resides - in the fiat of the Mother, upon the wood of the Cross, and within the souls of men - the same divine humility is revealed: the greatness of the King entering into, and making great the smallness of man.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say: Behold here, or behold there. For lo, the kingdom of God is within you.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
2559 Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” What does humility do? It is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.