All about Humility
What Is Humility?
Humility is a misunderstood and unappreciated virtue. We sometimes confuse it with a laughing protestation in denial of excellence, a denial that must itself be protested according to the rules of the game.
True humility does not consist in outward actions, or in the use of things that look humble, or in appearing in a lowly and humiliating posture. This may be, and often is, an effect of true humility, which is an intimate conviction, by which we meekly and lovingly recognize before God that we are detestable, nothing but misery, poverty, and incapacity on account of our sins.#1
Humility is a virtue that is derived from a profound reverence toward God. It consists in a recognition of our true position with respect to our Creator and fellow creatures and in a disposition to shape our conduct in accordance with that position.
Humility is the true expression in thought and conduct of what we really are. Hence, it is based on truth. It is primarily a disposition of our will to restrain that tendency which we all have to claim an esteem and consideration which is beyond our due and to assert an independence of judgment and of will that does not belong to us as creatures.
The repression of this impulse of our unregenerated being to exalt itself, to exact consideration for itself as for itself, cannot be achieved by any self-analysis, no matter how thorough; it can have its source only in a deep sense of God’s all-pervading sovereignty, and in a profound reverence arising from this. Through that reverence, man will not desire to assign to himself more than is due to him, by reason of the position given him by God.
To be humble, then, we must know what we are, and our relation to God. When our conduct is directed by this true knowledge, and is in accordance with it, then we are humble.#2
Basically, to be humble is to know our lowliness and misery, and to act accordingly. Thus, humility has a double root:
(a) Truth, to know ourselves as we really are.
(b) Justice, to act upon that knowledge.#3
To know our lowliness we need to know what man is. Using our reason, and also through God’s Revelation, we discover:
- that we are human beings, with body and soul; that the body must be subject to the soul (to reason); and
- that the soul must be subject to God.
Body Subject to Soul
Man is a creature of God; that is, created by Him; and thus, His servant. Man has a spiritual –nonmaterial– side called soul, and a material side, the body. The spiritual side is more excellent than the material one. The higher powers of the soul are the mind and the will; and, below these, the rest of the soul’s powers and appetites reside.
Furthermore, man was elevated to the supernatural level; he was no longer considered by God a servant; he became a friend, a son (cf. Jn 15:15).
Man could use his free will rightly or perversely. God did not will man’s perversion; He wanted man to attain greatness and happiness through the wise use of his freedom of choice. Man could choose to respond to God’s designs, or, on the contrary, to disobey, bringing disorder into creation by the perverse use of his faculties.
And man sinned against God; his disobedience wounded his own nature. God did not will this; He merely permitted it, and thus permitted all the consequences that flowed from it.
With sin came strife and injustice. Every child of Adam at its birth is caught up by and dragged into a system where disorder reigns, and where it is bound to endure buffeting and ill treatment because of such disorder. Disturbed by the passions, man will have a hard time directing his natural impulses and appetites, from now on.
Although man lost his dignity by disobeying God, Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross made it possible for him to be cured and healed. This transformation and cure is done by God’s grace; man must match God’s gift –he will always fall short– with his loving dedication to God; he must deny himself –at times contradicting the tendencies of his wounded nature– to do God’s Will, imitating Christ.
To do so, man must place his body and his appetites under the command of reason; he must control his passions, practicing temperance, humility, and related virtues (modesty and decorum, meekness, curiosity, fortitude and daring).
Humility has a specific task in this struggle: to curb man’s inordinate desire for personal excellence and incline him to recognize his own worth in its true light. Thus, it has two functions:
(a) to restrain the inordinate desire for personal excellence; and
(b) to subject man to God by man’s recognition that all the good he has comes from his Creator.#4
Love for One’s Excellence
The mind has a tendency toward a good that is difficult to attain. In so doing, we may be carried away –the appetites being affected by passions– by our craving things above ourselves. The mind, then, needs a moderating virtue. The function of humility is to temper and restrain the mind lest it press forward to higher things without moderation or reason. Knowledge of reality sustains humility by giving information that keeps us from considering ourselves better than what we are.
We, Christians, have our hope in God. We must know and accept our own weaknesses; thus, we will not depend obsessively on our own resources. In any undertaking, we must use all the human means open to us, but above all, we must rely on prayer. Humility is not a matter of despising ourselves, because God does not despise us, since we are the work of his hands. It consists in forgetting ourselves, and sincerely thinking about others.
Humility is the opposite of shyness, cowardice, or mediocrity. It encourages us to be aware of the talents we have received, put them to good use, and fully enjoy them with an upright heart. It forbids us to boast about these talents and to use them without taking into account the needs of our neighbor.#5
The proud man makes himself the end of his own actions. His soul is full of love for self. This disorderly love for one’s own excellence leaves no room for charity, which means to love God above all things and to love others, oneself included, for God’s sake.
Man Subject to God
The essence of all idolatry lies in cutting off oneself from dependence on God, to tie oneself to some creature –be it some human being, money, fame, power, work, or pleasure. By adoring it, we adore ourselves. Humility discloses to us that anything good in us –in the natural level as well as in the level of grace– proceeds from God; we have received from Him everything. We must acknowledge and accept joyfully this fact.
We may consider two kind of possessions in us:
(a) what we have, coming from God; and
(b) what we have of our own.
We have received from God everything implying goodness or perfection; all goodness or perfection we find in the world is a participation in God’s own.
We have of our own everything implying imperfection or defect; it is evident, because imperfection cannot come from God, who is absolutely perfect.
Compared to God, we are insignificant. Humility sprouts from the awareness of this infinite gap; we recognize our absolute dependence on God; that everything we have is a gift from God (cf. Lk 16:15; 1 Cor 1:26-29); that everything good in us belongs to God, while weakness and sin belongs to us; that we will always be indebted to God; and that the initial debt grows unremittingly.
Only God is his own end; He is for His own sake. The rest of us –creatures– have God as our end; we are for God.
These considerations must lead us to deny ourselves, and to assert God.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Cf. Ven. Libermann, Lettres Spirituelles, 1, 60.
2. Cf. E. Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, 2, 2.
3. Refer to chapter 12 for quotations on the basis of humility.
4. Refer to chapter 10 for quotations on the nature and need of humility.
5. Refer to chapter 11 for quotations on true and false humility.
Humility is a misunderstood and unappreciated virtue. We sometimes confuse it with a laughing protestation in denial of excellence, a denial that must itself be protested according to the rules of the game.
True humility does not consist in outward actions, or in the use of things that look humble, or in appearing in a lowly and humiliating posture. This may be, and often is, an effect of true humility, which is an intimate conviction, by which we meekly and lovingly recognize before God that we are detestable, nothing but misery, poverty, and incapacity on account of our sins.#1
Humility is a virtue that is derived from a profound reverence toward God. It consists in a recognition of our true position with respect to our Creator and fellow creatures and in a disposition to shape our conduct in accordance with that position.
Humility is the true expression in thought and conduct of what we really are. Hence, it is based on truth. It is primarily a disposition of our will to restrain that tendency which we all have to claim an esteem and consideration which is beyond our due and to assert an independence of judgment and of will that does not belong to us as creatures.
The repression of this impulse of our unregenerated being to exalt itself, to exact consideration for itself as for itself, cannot be achieved by any self-analysis, no matter how thorough; it can have its source only in a deep sense of God’s all-pervading sovereignty, and in a profound reverence arising from this. Through that reverence, man will not desire to assign to himself more than is due to him, by reason of the position given him by God.
To be humble, then, we must know what we are, and our relation to God. When our conduct is directed by this true knowledge, and is in accordance with it, then we are humble.#2
Basically, to be humble is to know our lowliness and misery, and to act accordingly. Thus, humility has a double root:
(a) Truth, to know ourselves as we really are.
(b) Justice, to act upon that knowledge.#3
To know our lowliness we need to know what man is. Using our reason, and also through God’s Revelation, we discover:
- that we are human beings, with body and soul; that the body must be subject to the soul (to reason); and
- that the soul must be subject to God.
Body Subject to Soul
Man is a creature of God; that is, created by Him; and thus, His servant. Man has a spiritual –nonmaterial– side called soul, and a material side, the body. The spiritual side is more excellent than the material one. The higher powers of the soul are the mind and the will; and, below these, the rest of the soul’s powers and appetites reside.
Furthermore, man was elevated to the supernatural level; he was no longer considered by God a servant; he became a friend, a son (cf. Jn 15:15).
Man could use his free will rightly or perversely. God did not will man’s perversion; He wanted man to attain greatness and happiness through the wise use of his freedom of choice. Man could choose to respond to God’s designs, or, on the contrary, to disobey, bringing disorder into creation by the perverse use of his faculties.
And man sinned against God; his disobedience wounded his own nature. God did not will this; He merely permitted it, and thus permitted all the consequences that flowed from it.
With sin came strife and injustice. Every child of Adam at its birth is caught up by and dragged into a system where disorder reigns, and where it is bound to endure buffeting and ill treatment because of such disorder. Disturbed by the passions, man will have a hard time directing his natural impulses and appetites, from now on.
Although man lost his dignity by disobeying God, Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross made it possible for him to be cured and healed. This transformation and cure is done by God’s grace; man must match God’s gift –he will always fall short– with his loving dedication to God; he must deny himself –at times contradicting the tendencies of his wounded nature– to do God’s Will, imitating Christ.
To do so, man must place his body and his appetites under the command of reason; he must control his passions, practicing temperance, humility, and related virtues (modesty and decorum, meekness, curiosity, fortitude and daring).
Humility has a specific task in this struggle: to curb man’s inordinate desire for personal excellence and incline him to recognize his own worth in its true light. Thus, it has two functions:
(a) to restrain the inordinate desire for personal excellence; and
(b) to subject man to God by man’s recognition that all the good he has comes from his Creator.#4
Love for One’s Excellence
The mind has a tendency toward a good that is difficult to attain. In so doing, we may be carried away –the appetites being affected by passions– by our craving things above ourselves. The mind, then, needs a moderating virtue. The function of humility is to temper and restrain the mind lest it press forward to higher things without moderation or reason. Knowledge of reality sustains humility by giving information that keeps us from considering ourselves better than what we are.
We, Christians, have our hope in God. We must know and accept our own weaknesses; thus, we will not depend obsessively on our own resources. In any undertaking, we must use all the human means open to us, but above all, we must rely on prayer. Humility is not a matter of despising ourselves, because God does not despise us, since we are the work of his hands. It consists in forgetting ourselves, and sincerely thinking about others.
Humility is the opposite of shyness, cowardice, or mediocrity. It encourages us to be aware of the talents we have received, put them to good use, and fully enjoy them with an upright heart. It forbids us to boast about these talents and to use them without taking into account the needs of our neighbor.#5
The proud man makes himself the end of his own actions. His soul is full of love for self. This disorderly love for one’s own excellence leaves no room for charity, which means to love God above all things and to love others, oneself included, for God’s sake.
Man Subject to God
The essence of all idolatry lies in cutting off oneself from dependence on God, to tie oneself to some creature –be it some human being, money, fame, power, work, or pleasure. By adoring it, we adore ourselves. Humility discloses to us that anything good in us –in the natural level as well as in the level of grace– proceeds from God; we have received from Him everything. We must acknowledge and accept joyfully this fact.
We may consider two kind of possessions in us:
(a) what we have, coming from God; and
(b) what we have of our own.
We have received from God everything implying goodness or perfection; all goodness or perfection we find in the world is a participation in God’s own.
We have of our own everything implying imperfection or defect; it is evident, because imperfection cannot come from God, who is absolutely perfect.
Compared to God, we are insignificant. Humility sprouts from the awareness of this infinite gap; we recognize our absolute dependence on God; that everything we have is a gift from God (cf. Lk 16:15; 1 Cor 1:26-29); that everything good in us belongs to God, while weakness and sin belongs to us; that we will always be indebted to God; and that the initial debt grows unremittingly.
Only God is his own end; He is for His own sake. The rest of us –creatures– have God as our end; we are for God.
These considerations must lead us to deny ourselves, and to assert God.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Cf. Ven. Libermann, Lettres Spirituelles, 1, 60.
2. Cf. E. Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, 2, 2.
3. Refer to chapter 12 for quotations on the basis of humility.
4. Refer to chapter 10 for quotations on the nature and need of humility.
5. Refer to chapter 11 for quotations on true and false humility.