Adapted from In Silence with God, by Benedict Baur, Chapters 12 and 13
Because we are in Christ, limbs of His body, the vine, we are called to live the Christ-life… to live His life with Him. The life of the body flows into the limbs. The strength and life of the vine are revealed by the branches. If our life is to be that of a limb or branch of Christ, it must embody a spirit of humility. It is precisely of humility that our Lord speaks when He says, Learn of me, for I am meek, and humble of heart. It is as though He would convince us that everything depends upon learning the art of being humble. We should think of ourselves humbly, recognize that we are as insignificant as the dust from which we sprang… . Cheerfully considering ourselves of no account and choosing the road of Christian humility in our whole thought and intention, our labors and our sufferings. The spirit of Christ is essentially a spirit of humility. Therefore the spirit that flows through the limbs, the branches of Christ, must also be a spirit of humility. Learn of me, for I am meek, and humble of heart.
WHAT CHRISTIAN HUMILITY IS
(a) Our Lord Himself gives us the best definition of humility. “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: God, I give you thanks, that I am not as the rest of men, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican. I fast twice in a week; I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off, would not as much lift up his eyes toward Heaven; but struck his breast saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner. I say to you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” (Lk. 18:10–14).
(b) Pride is the inordinate value we place on our own merit. The proud man gives himself credit for all that is good in him, as though he had given virtue to himself. Pride makes a man well pleased with himself. He likes to think of
his talents, his wisdom, his gains through his own cleverness, his brilliant achievements. He likes other people to notice them, too – he likes others to think well of him, to praise him, talk about him, marvel at him. This is self-satisfaction, and self-satisfaction leads to self-confidence. The proud man relies on his own capabilities, his own understanding and insight; he doesn’t need the advice or help of others. He considers himself more competent, cleverer than other people; so he has no need to pray for light, strength, and guidance. He is sufficient unto himself.
Self-satisfaction implies superiority. The proud man despises others, looks down on them, considers himself their better – in short, behaves exactly like the Pharisee in the parable.
Self-satisfaction also leads to misplaced ambition – that is, to an inordinate desire for glory, admiration, recognition, a celebrated name; and with all this goes a fear of not being sufficiently respected, sufficiently appreciated – a fear of being forgotten, overlooked, ignored. Jealousy, too, lest someone else should compete with him and achieve higher honor, more success, more recognition and influence.
Thus the evils of envy, contempt, and hate grow out of pride and sometimes even the bitterest enmity. The ambitious man desires to have priority everywhere. He wants to domineer, always to be considered in the right. He may even become ludicrous, always trying to enforce his own opinion, his own will. He covers up his weaknesses, his failings, as much as he can, and takes refuge in bluff, so that after a time he becomes dishonest, two-faced, undependable – a tortured slave to flattery and the fear of other people’s opinions.
The humble man looks first to God. You alone are great. The humble man knows that of himself he is nothing and possesses nothing. Of course he sees the good that he has, just as the proud man sees his; but he is under no misapprehension about it. What do you have that you have not received? (I Cor 4:7). He humbles himself in acknowledging his unworthiness and complete dependence on God and never steps out of the position to which he properly belongs in relation to his Maker. And when praise, admiration or glory come to him, as they come to most men, at least to some degree from time to time, he refers it all to God, recognizing himself as but a poor instrument in the hands of his Master.
Humility is a quality of spiritual insight. A humble person clearly recognizes that of himself he is nothing, has nothing, nothing under nature – neither life nor a body, nor spirit, nor talents, nor strength, nor health, nor hands, nor eyes – nothing, absolutely nothing; nothing under grace. God it is who works in us to will and to be perfect, says St. Paul. Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves as of ourselves but our sufficiency is from God (2 Cor 3:5). There is not one single thought, no health or good decision, not one good work, no matter how insignificant, no prayer, no act of faith or of love that we can call exclusively our own. Even as far as we work through divine grace, which God has bestowed on us, and do not misuse it, the fruit of grace is the work of God in us. What would you have, had you not received? asks the Apostle. Nothing, absolutely nothing.
Then, sin and sinfulness. The humble person recognizes that there is only one thing he can do himself: commit sin. He knows that in consequence of human nature he is capable of every sin. If he has not fallen into this, that, or the other sin, it is not because of his own merit, but only because of the love of God, which has shielded him from sin. With the publican he acknowledges himself a sinner, unworthy to lift his eyes to God, unworthy to be respected, admired, honored, or loved by his fellow man. Worthy only to be recognized and rated for what he is, a sinner.
Humility is best expressed by a humble way of regulating our actions. He who is truly humble does not think of high regard, of making himself important either in his own person or through the enforcement of his will, his wishes, and his plans. He wants, in fact, he requests, to suffer, to be disregarded, treated with indignity; he suffers contempt and injustice with the same humility that our obedient, rejected Savior showed toward his persecutors. He counts it as the greatest joy to stand beside our Lord, as a limb of His body, obediently allowing himself to be pushed into the background and forgotten, to be ill-treated and loaded with injustice. He lives the humble life of our Lord and reckons it an honor to do so. Filled with the spirit of Christ, he does not try to escape from lowly, humiliating conditions; he does not strive to shine in splendid achievements, high offices, honors. He strives to work as hard and as well as he can to please God, but remains content in his moderate powers and talents, in the work entrusted to him. Quite content, too, if, in spite of his efforts to work well, others do better for themselves than he does.
The humble person is especially conscious of his faults and failings. He recognizes his inconsistency, the little acts of neglect into which he daily falls. He freely admits his faults and deficiencies, pleading guilty to more defects and deficiencies than others have. He is so convinced of his nothingness and unworthiness that he considers himself the least among men, the greatest sinner, is too ashamed to lift his eyes to Heaven.
The more he becomes aware of his helplessness, the more he leans upon God and the Savior’s mercy, grace, forgiveness, help, presence. No one prays more earnestly than the truly humble man. No one wrestles more sincerely for light and strength than he. No one has more unshakable trust in God’s help – and God in return gives him grace: to none is it more bounteously given than to the truly humble. God loves to create from nothing. In God, in his Savior, the humble man is strong, eager, fearless, enterprising; not afraid to undertake any task, shoulder any burden – equal to any suffering or renunciation. I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.
The humble man grasps the inner meaning of the words “The very hairs of your head are numbered” (Mt 10:30). He recognizes in this statement that there is nothing outside God’s will. He sees in everything the glory of Providence and divine order. He throws himself trustfully into the arms of this living Providence. His whole life is a joyous surrender to the will and pleasure of God. Even when he is in the depths of misery he is undisturbed, for he sees not his distressing condition but God’s mercy, forgiveness, and love. He is happy even while conscious of his own imperfections. He doesn’t desire imperfections: he despises his failings and fights against them – but they do not disturb him – they only make him more humble and drive him more often to God in prayer and trust. He would like to hasten with all his might to the heights of divine life and love, but he is content, even though his progress is slow and laborious, recognizing the many demerits detaining him. He takes everything as it comes in complete surrender to the guidance and providence of God. All he wants is to be quite small and insignificant, quite poor in spirit, yielding himself into the arms of God. Who is more inwardly free, more completely liberated from guilt and worry, more content or nearer to God than he who is truly humble?
That is the mystery of humility – to be nothing in one’s own eyes or the eyes of others, to be despised for the will of God and the Savior. How little we Christians understand this mystery and its secret bliss! The cup is bitter, very bitter, but it is only the cup; and what it contains is unspeakably sweet.
WHY HUMILITY?
The Church needs humble souls. Suffer little children to come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven (Mt 19:14) – of grace, virtue, and holiness. Truly humble souls are rare. They are vastly outnumbered by others we meet, hypocritical souls, full of self-satisfaction, seeking praise and recognition, honor, respect; pompous souls pumped up with self-importance, eloquent about their own achievements, good works, efforts, sufferings, grace, and progress; souls bursting with conceit, caprice, and self-will, having no esteem whatever for others. So many pious ones without noticing it, are the very Pharisees of the Gospel, praying in the secrecy of their hearts: Lord, I thank Thee that I am not as the others are.
(a) As pride is the spirit of the world, so humility is the virtue of Christ. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” (Jn 1:14). The mystery of God made man is the mystery of God’s eternal condescension and self-expression in Christ, His Son. God’s positive hunger for humiliation, degradation, ignominy, is incomprehensible to our human understanding. Who, being in the form of God, … emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men… . He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to death of the cross (Phil 2:6-8). The Son of God, eternal, divine Wisdom, freely chose the degradation and ignominy of crucifixion. Learn of me… Live my life with me…
We follow our Lord to the stable at Bethlehem, into the retired life of poverty, of labor and obedience at Nazareth. God’s son voluntarily, and with a fully conscious decision, chooses lowliness. He could have had a different life, but he deliberately chose a humble place. Learn of me… Live my life with me.
We follow him to the Mount of Olives, to the eve of that tragic Good Friday. There he stands in the soiled robe of sin. He who knew no sin, he has been made sin for us; that we might be made the justice of God in him (2 Cor 5:21). How soiled, how humbly He stands before the pure eyes of the Father! Could he have taken upon Himself greater ignominy than the sins of the whole of humanity – the sins of pride, sensuality, of injustice and uncharitableness, of lewdness, starting with the sin of Eve and Adam, the sin of Cain right down to the very last sin that will be committed before the Day of Judgment? We can understand why, on the Mount of Olives, blood gushed from his pores in the agony of comprehension. It was the flood of shame that rose in Him at the sins with which He knew Himself to be weighed down. All this he took upon himself quite voluntarily, out of pure love. Learn of me. Live my life with me…
How He humbled Himself as He stood beside the prisoner Barabbas, with the people who had so recently hailed Him with Hosanna, Son of David! now calling to Pilate: Give us Barabbas free! What of Him, the guiltless one? He bears it all silently, this ignominy heaped upon Him in full view of the heathen Roman Empire, as represented by Pilate, and in the face of the whole Jewish populace. He bears it without a word of reproach – not one word against the injustice of authority, of His own people, condemning Him who has done no wrong to the shameful death of the lowest lawbreakers. There He stands, hemmed in by the uncouth soldiery, who, undisturbed, make sport of his shame and misery. Could he not have hindered this? – Of course. But His wish was to humble Himself to the uttermost. That is the spirit of Christ – a hunger and thirst for humility, for degradation and ignominy before mankind. Learn of me. Live my life with me… .
How He humbled Himself on the cross, between the two criminals! In those days there was no more dishonorable death than that of the cross. It was the death of outcasts; and precisely this was the death He chose, consciously and of His own free will – this death and no other. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, in voluntary obedience to the Father. Learn of me. Live my life with me… .
Humility is a virtue of Christ. He, the body, must continue His life in the limbs. Hence our lives cannot really be anything but lives of humility, obedience, or making ourselves small and insignificant. Why humility? Because we are limbs of Christ, reproductions of Christ, because we have been baptized and in Baptism have been lifted up into the life of Christ. So let us live in the full consciousness of our unity with Christ. I am the vine; you the branches (Jn 15:5).
(b) Humility is a prerequisite for every true virtue, every perfection. It is the acknowledgment of our nothingness, our complete dependence on God. We acknowledge the fact that we are nothing, that our whole existence is dependant upon Him who is. How can such an attitude of spirit and will fail to draw to our souls the pleasure of God? How can He, in His divine love, do less than fill with His grace and strength the soul that comes to Him so trustfully, prayerfully, in all its nothingness? The soul is never more ready for grace than when it is humble. Suffer little children to come to me. He who humbles himself shall be exalted. To the humble God gives grace (I Pet 5:5).
Humility is also the acknowledgment of the might, the greatness, the goodness, wisdom, and mercy of God. You alone are good. Hallowed be your name. Such adoration honors God. He cannot withhold His choicest gifts from the soul that humbly worships Him. He who humbles himself shall be exalted.
If ever we experience setbacks in our journey toward perfection and sanctity, the fault lies in want of humility. All other virtues rest upon and unfold through humility. Humility is the foundation. A life of faith cannot possibly exist without it, without the surrender of our personal will, without the complete yielding of our human insight and judgment on matters concerning our faith. There is no life of obedience without humility – that is, without the sacrifice, the complete, blind surrender of our own will, our own judgment, our own personal wishes. Nor can we truly love our neighbors unless true humility reigns in our hearts. Only one who is really humble is truly unselfish, ignoring self and self-interest. He alone has the aptitude for generosity, large-heartedness, an aptitude that makes possible a life for Christ and for souls, enduring setbacks, ingratitude, sufferings, self-renunciation. Where there is no humility there can be but little love.
Only the humble man can become truly a man of prayer. Prayer is an acknowledgment of personal unimportance, personal nothingness, complete dependence on God and, at the same time an acknowledgment of the greatness, the goodness, and the love of God toward His creature, His child. Who, then, is in a better frame of mind to pray than the humble man? Only he will show true gratitude regarding everything the day brings as a gift of God and converting every experience, every impression, into a prayer, an act of appreciation, of love, of trust in God, of constant awareness of living in God and the divine Savior. God gives grace to the humble – particularly the grace of prayer and the spirit of prayer. The humble man, conscious of his insufficiency, his dependence, his nothingness, is a man of unshakable trust in God. He knows how to subject himself blindly, without reserve or criticism, to his elders and superiors, entirely relinquishing his own wish and will. He knows how to bow quietly, with complete surrender and patience to whatever God may send him, especially through the medium of other people or through the untoward events we all have to face. In the absence of humility our inner life becomes unreal, a sham and a delusion. That is where observance of the commandments becomes twisted into phariseeism; where penitence becomes exhibitionism; where even humility turns into hypocrisy, virtue into self-assertion. Only on the soil of true humility can genuine Christian virtue grow.
(c) Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls (Mt 11:29). God has given a wonderful promise to the humble: peace. Who doesn’t seek peace of heart? And who finds it? He who is humble. Four things, says the author of The Imitation of Christ, bring the soul great peace. First, always do the will of others rather than our own; secondly, rather to have less than more; thirdly, always to seek the lowest place and be submissive; fourthly, wishing and praying that God’s will be done completely. A man who leads his life on these lines is on the right path for inner peace (book III, chap. 23). That is the precise aim and attitude of the humble soul.
There is no man more calm under circumstances of privation and unpleasantness, of neglect, offense, annoyance of all kinds, than he who has ceased to be self-seeking – the kind of man who no longer wants his own way but submits in everything to the will of God. Such a man acknowledges his own nothingness. He recognizes himself as a sinner and repeats a thousand times: “I have earned more than has befallen me.” This wipes away every shadow of discontent and criticism, of impatience, of murmuring against God, against circumstances.
Let us examine ourselves earnestly on the questions: How much have I learned from the Savior? To what extent do I practice His virtue of humility? To what extent does the spirit of humility live in me, in my will, and in my actions?
If we were all to learn from our Savior how to be humble, would that not be paradise on earth, a land of peace, of joy, of indestructible bliss?
There is quite a distance to travel before we who are related by nature to the Pharisee are transformed into the publican – before we become the man who knows his insignificance and helplessness, his total dependence on God and grace, feeling his inner corruption and unworthiness deeply, recognizing and acknowledging it and desiring only to be regarded and treated by others for what he really is. There are penetrating roots in our human nature that resist humility and humiliation. Even where we recognize our insignificance we do not care to adjust ourselves to this self-knowledge. There are many Christians who lead a life of piety and yet keep the spirit of the world firmly entrenched in their hearts; self-love and pride have settled there. So much so that we often, almost without knowing it, share the low esteem in which Christian humility is held. How can we wonder, then, that we find so many shortcomings in Christian families and communities nowadays. The harm lies at the very root.
The kingdom of God rests on justice and truth. Turning away from God through pride, the soul of all sin, is the greatest offence we can commit against Him. It must be stopped. How? – Through humble submission to God in everything. This submission entails humility. The great lie, the origin of all sin, is self-elevation, the spirit that produced autonomy and self-glorification and gives them the status of life principles. This lie must be overcome by humility. Humility is truth. It forces us to give love to God and our neighbor their proper place, as we are commanded to do.
OUR PART OF THE WORK
(a) The first factor in the battle for the virtue of humility is the quality of our belief. Faith is the root of all true Christian virtue, the foundation stone of supernatural law and the starting point of our salvation. Faith is also the necessary preliminary to Christian humility, the soil in which it finds its sustenance. In the spirit of faith we arrive at a deeper appreciation of the nature of God. Little by little, an overwhelming idea of the greatness of God, of His holiness, justice, beneficence, and love, must ripen in our soul – an idea so all-embracing that all human conceptions of greatness pale before it.
This conception of God must become an integral part of our being; not only our minds but our bodies, our whole strength must be caught up in it. It must absorb us completely and never leave us by day or by night. It must be a resplendent light forever leading us, so brilliantly illuminating all that we encounter – mankind, things, ourselves, even the attributes of God – that we see them with totally different eyes. It must become a spontaneous habit to thank Him constantly for all that we are and all that we receive, moment by moment. It must amount to a perpetual and blissful awareness of our dependence on God in the ordering of our everyday existence as well as in the economy of our spiritual life… . God immanent in great things and in small. Ever more deeply and joyfully we must realize that we of ourselves are nothing and can do nothing; God is the centre and the core of our being, all-in-all. Out of this new knowledge of God our prayer grows; we never tire of thanking Him, of singing His praises, of serving Him in a spirit of gratitude.
We arrive at this state by the intensity of our faith. The holy liturgy with its prayers and its offerings, especially the Psalms, shows us the way. It is not difficult to enter into the spirit of veneration when we allow the liturgy to permeate our whole being. We fall at the feet of the Almighty in humble surrender, lauding his greatness, His wisdom, His justice. “You alone are holy; You alone, the All Highest A clear and childlike perception of God, the Eternal: it is precisely here that moderns so often fail. We are too big ourselves to appreciate the greatness of God. We cannot muster up the awe and reverence that are God’s due. The smaller God grows in our estimation, the more we make gods of ourselves, barring the progress of Christian humility. Lord, teach us Your ways.
In the spirit of faith we are permitted to penetrate the mysteries of the Savior. The stronger the faith with which we approach the Person of our Lord, the more we are able to understand the inner meaning of His life: in the lap of His Virgin Mother, His birth in Bethlehem, His childhood, His quiet life in Nazareth, His ministry, His sufferings and His Passion, as we recite them in the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary and make the pilgrimage of the fourteen Stations of the Cross, and His life in the tabernacle of the altar. Through these mysteries our Lord opens for us the road to humility. In our prayers and meditations we progress along that road. But still the results are meager. Why? We do not bring enough intensity to our devotions. The eye of faith does not penetrate deeply enough. We lack the living faith through which our Lord would let His mysteries do their work in us. We hurry from practice to practice, from prayer to prayer; but they are brittle superficialities. Teach me, O Lord, Your ways. Increase, deepen our faith. How otherwise can we truly attain the virtue of humility?
Faith enables us to recognize our nothingness both in our natural lives and in our state of grace. What do you have that you have not received? (I Cor 4:7). It is God who works in you, both to will [good] and to accomplish, according to His good will (Phil 2:13). What credit, therefore, can I honestly give myself? If He did not give me grace, how could I conceive a single good thought, strive for any good object, wish or do any good? We are unutterably more dependant on Him, on His work in us, than we can possibly guess or understand. What do you have that you have not received? – Not a single thought, not a single good decision, not one step or a hand’s turn. Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves; but out sufficiency is from God (2 Cor 3:5). Faith emphatically teaches us: without God we can do nothing, not even pray. Of himself a man has only untruth and sin. Whatever he possesses in truth and righteousness [virtue, holiness], he draws from a well which we must all seek in this wilderness of our life, on earth, in order that we may not faint on the way. And again: The branches of the vine possess nothing that they do not receive from their life in Him (Council of Orange). These statements of faith are so many signposts to humility of spirit, of will, and of action. All that is asked of us is that we hold fast, with deep contrition, to our strong faith.
In the spirit of faith we acknowledge and confess our unworthiness before God and our fellow man. We humbly recognize our daily failings, faults, imperfections, shortcomings, perversions, infidelities. What are we? – Sinners, every one of us; prone to sin; full of blindness, frailty, selfishness, haughtiness, corruption. This despite ample divine grace and many excellent examples, good reading, good advice, prayer, and meditation; despite the sacraments and possibly daily Communion. How much reason we have to stand, as the publican in the Gospel did, in the farthest corner, striking our breast and crying: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” How much reason to rank ourselves with the lowest in our homes, in our clothing, in the treatment we expect! How much reason to be meek in our behavior, our attitude, and our speech. Every reason in the world to defer to others, to rate them higher than ourselves, and to submit humbly to injustice and disregard. By my sins I have merited no better.
In a spirit of faith we surrender ourselves inwardly and outwardly to the will and the commandments of God. We bow in submission to God’s representatives here on earth – to our parents, our elders, and our superiors, to clerical authorities, and to those who govern our mundane affairs. We become, like our Lord, obedient unto death, without murmuring without contradiction, without criticism or discontent, with an upright desire to abide by the laws laid down. In the spirit of faith, every duty, every direction, every rule and order of the authorities is God’s will and therefore holy.
(b) Our part of the work also calls for constant and earnest prayer. Ask, and you shall receive (Jn 16:24). The spirit of faith, on which humility rests, is itself a great divine grace. In prayer we confirm our high regard for the virtue of humility. At the same time we acknowledge in prayer that we cannot give ourselves this virtue. In prayer we confess our own helplessness, bowing humbly before God. He who humbles himself shall be exalted. Therefore, prayer has an indispensable function in our efforts to acquire the virtue of humility.
GOD’S PART IN THE WORK
The bulk of the work, however, is done by God. Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it (Ps 126:1). He does not leave us to our own devices. He steps in and works with all his might to heal us of self-conceit, pride, self-inflation. He is a wonderful teacher. He works tirelessly in us, that we may learn to be small and humble, to love humility as our Savior loved and sought it.
(a) To this end God calls us daily to Holy Communion. He uses the Blessed Sacrament to fill us with the spirit of His divine Son, so that our thoughts and judgments, our wishes and endeavors, may become Christ like, perfect. Jesus Christ is the spirit of humility, of humble submission to the Father in all things. It is impossible to receive regular Communion worthily without entering more and more into the Christ-spirit of humility. It is equally true that we are not receiving the Eucharist worthily if we do not derive from it a deeper sense of humility, a deeper appreciation for those who are humble. By their fruits you will know them.
(b) God works unceasingly on us to this end. Our part is simply to submit, offering ourselves, so that He may do with us whatever He wishes, as He wishes: through Himself, through conditions, experiences, events, environment, the time factor, through other people, and so on. Patiently accepting things as they are, not always wishing those with whom we are obliged to live were quite different sorts of people. Not objecting to things or defying them; on the contrary, accepting with joyful resignation whatever comes. For, after all, nothing befalls us except through the will of God – His all-wise, holy will, His providence.
Herein lies the incentive to acquiescent, loving obedience and gratitude, even for that which may seem bitter and unpleasant to us. It touches us in the most sensitive spot: our own personality, our personal way of looking at things; not for myself, not my wishes or desires, hopes, expectations, not my will or what I consider good – but what You will in me. your will be done; only Yours. That is humility, a complete and utterly silent acceptance of whatever God may send, a joyful surrender to His pleasure; the highest function of our free will, our personality, to merge itself in the great effort of realizing at this present moment the humility and obedience of our Lord on the Mount of Olives. Father, if you will, remove this chalice from me; but yet not my will but yours be done (Lk 22:42). This calls for intensive faith.
We have, first of all, to accept the many unpleasant and event painful occurrences, accidents, and “acts of God” that crop up in every life: circumstances, difficulties, oppositions, hindrances – in fact, everything that goes against our wishes, everything that on purely natural grounds would arouse our anger, everything we should like to annihilate. We have to accept these things because God ordained them, because He permitted them to befall us, because it is His will that we should bear them for His own good ends. With these trials, which seem so puzzling to us, He is daily, hourly, determining the pattern of our lives. I am the Lord. He decides. He indicates the way. I have only to bow to His wishes, to fall in with His will. In this way He schools me to be meek and humble. I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself, and walked where you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go. (Jn 21:18). I am the Lord.
In the second place, we have to accept the fact that our life has been full of sin. God permitted it, because through sin He can bring us to salvation. We repent, yes. But, all the same, we subject ourselves humbly to the acknowledgment of having sinned, proclaiming ourselves sinners, and in the spirit of deepest contrition cry mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Falling into sin makes the proud man angry with himself: he grieves at the weakness that causes him to fall over and over again. But the meek soul makes even its shame a reason for abasement before God, an act of humble repentance, an incentive to draw closer, in trust and utter submission, to Him alone who can raise us out of sin and guard us against it in future – the way of humility.
In the third place, we must accept the daily disappointments we experience in our inner life – our temptations, our lack of persistence, our disturbing first thoughts and emotions, our imperfections, our weaknesses, our helplessness, our failure to concentrate in prayer, our blindness and stupidity, our want of insight, irresolution in carrying out the promptings of conscience and inspiration, the foundering of our good intentions. If these things make us angry, if they surprise, confuse, or depress us, it is a sure sign that our pride has not yet been overcome. No, we must humble ourselves and bow in acquiescence. Yes, Father; for so has it seemed good in your sight (Mt 11:26). Good that I should recognize once again how worthless I am. Your will be done.
Finally, we must accept outward humiliation: well-meant as well as destructive criticism from others, unjust judgment, ill-treatment, undeserved demotion, unmerited blame, slander, calumny, accusations of all sorts, trouble caused by our own awkwardness, mistakes that touch our honor and our good name (though we have nothing we can accuse ourselves of in connection with them). Behind all these things that are so hard to bear, our Father, our Savoir, stands, showing us the way to humble submission, complete surrender to His guidance, His will. Nothing happens by chance. The hand of God is in all.
Lord, teach me Your ways! Very few lovingly follow Jesus in His humility. Most people are content with paying lip service to this virtue. If we are called upon to endure a personal affront, how hot and angry we become! Even those who lead a devout life rarely relish going short of their due, and how they object to being ill-used! They dislike being dependent upon others or being regarded as servants; they want to be masters. Yet humility is more valuable than any success or high place we may achieve in the world.
Progress and perfection lie in submitting yourself with your whole heart to the divine pleasure, offering yourself up and seeking nothing for yourself, either in great things or in small, either in time or eternity, weighing all things with the scale of righteousness and giving thanks to Me for both the good and the adverse circumstances you are called upon to encounter. When you are strong, and so securely anchored in trust [to God] that you are ready for even greater sufferings, that you no longer desire to justify yourself and deem all My ordinances righteous, then you are on the road to peace” (The Imitation of Christ).
To what extent does the spirit of faith live in me? How far have I progressed in true appreciation of the might of God? How deeply have I entered into the mystery of Jesus’ humility? What is the measure of my conscious unworthiness in the sight of God? Exactly how much submission do I bring to my Maker, letting Him do His holy work in me, and humbly accepting all that He sends to try me?
I have need of much prayer for strength in all these things. Only God’s grace can heal me of my pride. Only those who pray can find the way to humility and, with complete self-renunciation, follow it.
Adapted from In Silence with God, by Benedict Baur, Chapters 12 and 13
Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash
