Lent 2026: A Journey of Humility
You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).
It’s funny how once you make a decision about something, you see validation of that decision all around you. You know what I mean. You buy a Toyota, and suddenly every other car on the road is a Toyota.
It was still Advent when we chose our Lenten theme (gotta love planning ahead, right?) and suddenly my life was full of opportunities to practice — or at least learn about — humility. A couple of years ago, one of my parish priests said in his homily: “Humility is the only virtue that, when you think you’ve mastered it, you haven’t.” Believe me, I haven’t mastered it!
After choosing this theme, I heard another priest discuss St. Bernard of Clairvaux who, as it turns out, wrote an entire book on “The Twelve Degrees of Humility and Pride.” St. Bernard believed humility matures into true freedom.
“Mature humility is like a mountaintop of self-possession or self-containment for St. Bernard. Love demands this kind of self-containment because to really love freely takes the full force of our being. In mature humility, the heart rests content in God’s bountiful love.” (Spiritual Direction)
No human has mastered this genuine contentment like our Mother Mary (who popped up to remind me — again — about humility a couple of weeks before I finally put my fingers to the keyboard). Mary was so sure of God that she saw herself as God saw her - no more, no less. That is true humility. She didn’t say, “Who me?” or anything else that rings of false humility or just a desire to go our own way. This young girl was mature enough in her humility to respond to God’s love with total surrender.
My final reminder about humility (before this writing, anyway) came when I made a mistake on a client’s project. It wasn’t a huge or relationship-ending mistake, but it was embarrassing all the same. I had promised it wouldn’t happen a second time, and it did. (I’m working on a plan to stop that charming third time!) All I could do was apologize to the client. Then, I remembered there was something else I could do — admit I need my Lord.
Our Catechism says, “Humility is the foundation of prayer.” (CCC 2559) In the hours after making sure my client was OK, I found myself praying, “Jesus, I made a mistake. Help me not do it again.” The fact is, none of us is perfect. We’re not worthy of the lavish love God pours out on us day after day, minute by minute. And yet, there is no mistake so big that he would stop the flow.
Even when we were still sinners — enemies! — He loved us enough to humiliate himself on the cross. (Romans 5:8, Phillippians 2:8)
Humility means accepting that we are not in control of how much God loves us. It means accepting His unconditional love wherever we are and in the middle of all our mistakes, big and small. It means walking humbly WITH Him can be our only response to His incredible love.
In the days to come, our wonderful team of writers here at Catholic Women in Business will look at humility from a myriad of angles. Whether you need greater humility in your finances, your schedule, or your prayer life, we hope you will find inspiration in their candid experiences. We will also discuss some great saints as examples to follow.
We invite you to join us throughout Lent by following along with our content, praying about it, and discussing it with your family and friends. Join our free Facebook group to discuss the content with other women around the world. Be assured of our prayers for you and of your Savior’s deep, abiding love.
Sharon Bengel, Managing Editor for Catholic Women in Business, is a cradle Catholic with more than 30 years of experience in writing, communications and publication design. A recovering newspaper reporter with a crush on the prophet Jeremiah, Sharon loves discovering new things about the scriptures. She runs an LLC out of her home office in southwest Ohio where she keeps a stash of chocolate for her grandkids.