Humility

Jesus, in this week’s Gospel, while watching people taking their seats at a banquet, used the occasion to talk about one of the most important virtues that we must all develop in our lives, the virtue of humility. Jesus warned: For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

It is telling that, in the Rule St Benedict wrote for his community, he lists twelve steps to becoming humble. The word ‘humility’ comes from the word humus meaning earth. For me to become humble, I need to be grounded or rooted in the truth; I need to accept the reality or truth of who I am. If I am humble I know and accept the truth about myself. As Michael Casey wrote in his book on humility,

To judge ourselves or others from any other perspective is false, and will eventually become destructive….The recognition of our earthly nature leads us to affirm that our fundamental relationship with God is one of dependence.…Truth in prayer, worship, and service of God is characterised by the realisation that all that we have comes from God; we have nothing to contribute to the relationship except our needs.

St Bernard of Clairvaux says that one of the original elements of humility as truth was the awareness that we are in solidarity with other human beings, we feel compassion, and have a sense of communion. Humility joins us with the rest of the human race. It is pride which causes us to believe that we are not like others (as the Pharisee claimed to be in Luke 18:11), that we are exceptions, that the ordinary rules do not apply to us. Pride is the opposite of approachability; it denies every bond that links us with others. Not surprisingly, its power to disrupt community is considerable.

At the end of his twelve steps to true humility, Benedict says:

Having climbed all these steps of humility, therefore, the monk will presently come to that perfect love of God which casts out fear. And all those precepts which formerly he had not observed without fear, he will now begin to keep by reason of that love, without any effort, as though naturally and by habit. No longer will his motive be the fear of hell, but rather the love of Christ, good habit and delight in the virtues which the Lord will deign to show forth by the Holy Spirit in His servant now cleansed from vice and sin.

Here is a Prayer for humility.

God, I am far too often influenced by what others think of me. I am always pretending to be either richer or smarter or nicer than I really am. Please prevent me from trying to attract attention. Don’t let me gloat over praise on the one hand or be discouraged by criticism on the other. Nor let me waste time weaving imaginary situations in which the most heroic, charming, witty person present is myself. Show me how to be humble of heart, like you.