Humility: Its Nature and Necessity
Humility: The Foundation of the Interior Life and the Guardian of All Virtues
* If you ask me what is most essential in the discipline of Christ, I shall answer: The first is humility, the second humility, and the third humility. (St Augustine, Letter 118)
* Prayer is the humility of the man who acknowledges his profound wretchedness and the greatness of God. He addresses and adores God as one who expects everything from Him and nothing from himself.
Faith is the humility of the mind that renounces its own judgment and surrenders to the verdict and authority of the Church.
Obedience is the humility of the will that subjects itself to the will of another, for God’s sake.
Chastity is the humility of the flesh, which subjects itself to the spirit.
Exterior mortification is the humility of the senses.
Penance is the humility of all the passions, immolated to the Lord.
Humility is truth on the road to the ascetic struggle. (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 259)
* This is the foundation of humility: To consider oneself a sinner and to believe oneself incapable of doing anything good before God.
This is the practice of humility: To love silence, not to compare oneself with anyone, not to contradict, to be submissive, to guard one’s eyes, to have death always in view, to abhor lies, to flee from vain and boastful talk, not to oppose authority, not to persist in one’s own opinion, to endure insults, to hate vice, to avoid idleness, and to be watchful.
My brother, observe these precepts; otherwise your soul will become a den of vicious affections. Strive hard to fulfill each one of them; thus, the short span of your life will not become empty and barren. (St John Damascene, Sacra Parallela, lib. III, ch. 84)
* Man is related to nothingness, but only in his origin, not in his destiny. Some men get back to nothingness through despair; they put nothingness as their end. The Christian knows nothingness only through self-denial, which is humility; he puts nothingness at the beginning, for man was created from nothing.
The more the pagan “nothings” himself, the closer he gets to the hell of despair and suicide. The more the Christian “nothings” himself, the closer he gets to God.
Mary went so deep down into nothingness that she became exalted. Respexit humilitatem ancillae suae. And her exaltation was also her Assumption. (Cf. F. Sheen, The World’s First Love)
* Humility is the rejection of appearances and superficiality; it is the expression of the depth of a man’s soul; it is a condition for his greatness. (John Paul II, Angelus, March 4, 1979)
* My little children, be humble, be lowly. (St Philip Neri)
* Do you want to be great? Become little. Do you plan to erect a building of colossal height? Apply yourself first to set a solid foundation –the higher your building, the deeper the foundation should be. The building will be going up; it will soar high; but first someone must dig the foundations, sink in the depths. Before going up, buildings go down; they humble themselves. The finials and pinnacles gracefully stand up only after the humiliation. (St Augustine, Sermon 142)
* Don’t aspire to be like the gilded weather vane on top of a great building. However much it may glitter, however high it may be, it adds nothing to the firmness of the structure.
Rather be like an old stone block hidden in the foundations, under the ground where no one can see you. Because of you, the house will not fall. (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 590)
* Pay no attention to the matters in which you are better than others, but to those in which you are worse. Keep before you the example of those that are better than you, and, through humility, you will ascend to greater things, with God’s help. (St Gregory the Great, Homily 7 on the Gospel)
* Love humility; it is the foundation and sentinel of all virtues. (St Bernard, Sermon 1, on Our Lord’s Nativity)
Fruits of Humility
Peace is a consequence of humility. The humble man is a realist; he knows that he makes mistakes, and he admits them readily. He attributes his supernatural effectiveness to God alone. His peace is a prelude to an eternal peace in heaven.
* The path of humility takes you everywhere ... but above all to Heaven. (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 282)
* Whoever does not want to humble himself cannot be saved. (St Bede, Commentary On the Gospel of St Luke, 1)
* You can do so much good, and yet also so much harm!
You will do good if you are humble, and give yourself cheerfully, with a spirit of sacrifice; you will do good for yourself and for your fellow men, and for the Church, this good Mother of ours.
But how much harm you will do, if you are led by your pride. (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 935)
* This is the sure way: through humiliation, to the Cross; from the Cross –with Christ– to the immortal Glory of the Father. (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 1020)
* How much I savored the epistle of that day! The Holy Spirit, through Saint Paul, teaches us the secret of immortality and of Glory. All of us human beings yearn to live on.
We wish to make the happy moments of our lives last forever. We wish to glorify our memory forever. We wish immortality for our cherished ideals. Thus, when we seem to be happy, when something consoles us in our distress, we all naturally say and desire: forever, forever.
Oh the wisdom of the devil! How well he knew the human heart! “You will be like gods,” he said to our first parents. That was a cruel deception. St Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians teaches us a divine secret to attain immortality and Glory: “Jesus ... humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on the Cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth....” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 1021)
The Struggle against Pride
Pride makes us live falsely, out of touch with reality. When we think we are able to do something on our own, the sad experience of failure fills our soul with uneasiness, unrest, and lack of peace.
Pride and sensuality, sources of most of our problems, have their common root in an excessive love for self; both may be overcome by prayer, mortification, thinking of others, and forgetting about ourselves.
* It is important to remember that humility is truth; a man is humble to the same degree that he is truthful, to the same degree that he sees the truth.
Again it is necessary to insist on the subtle difference between understanding and seeing. For instance, we could understand perfectly the argument of a mathematical proposition, and still not be able to see it. Everyone understands that he is a creature, and however little he thinks, he also understands the consequences that follow. Nevertheless, those who can fathom the tremendous depths of this truth are very few. One can have eyes and not see, ears and not hear, intelligence and not be able to reason correctly; for there is also a close relationship between humility and sight, between pride and blindness.
The man who is humble sees. There are certain things that are revealed only to children and to those who are like children, things that are hidden from the wise men of this world.
Pride destroys in man the capacity to see ultimate realities, realities of the supernatural world that, because of their depth, require great penetration. Pride distorts reality because, seen through a veil, reality becomes deformed and blurred. Pride makes us lose all sense of proportion, because it completely disrupts our sense of measure and distance. The tree in the wood that is nearest to us may seem the biggest, but that does not mean that it is the biggest, something that a normal person realizes perfectly. If one acts according to what seems and not according to what is, one gets involved in all kinds of absurdities.
It is a very old problem. St Paul, during the clash between Christianity and the pagan world, saw very vividly the monstrosities produced by pride–that is, blindness–in these haughty sages of the ancient world. The words he uses describe this phenomenon, although written centuries ago, are still applicable today.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities –his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. The exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator –who is blessed for ever. Amen.
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful affections. Even their women have exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents. They are foolish, dissolute; without affection, without fidelity, without mercy” (Rom 1:18-31). (F. Suarez, Mary of Nazareth, 2)
* You don’t conquer yourself, you aren’t mortified, because you are proud. You lead a life of penance? Remember: Pride can exist with penance.
Furthermore, your sorrow, after your falls, after your failures in generosity, is it really sorrow, or is it the frustration of seeing yourself so small and weak?
How far are you from Jesus if you are not humble ... even if new roses blossom every day from your disciplines! (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 200)
* The proud –poor creatures!– have to suffer a thousand silly little things which their self‑love makes out to be enormous but are unnoticed by others. (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 714)
* Christ (cf. Mt 22:39) and St Paul the Apostle (cf. Rom 13:10) tell us that “love is the fullness of the law,” but humility is the nurse of love, and pride is the mother of hatred. Thus, humility is the root of every good, and pride of every evil. (St John Chrysostom, Hom. X in Evang. sec. Matth.)
* Pride was the root and fountain spring of man’s wickedness. Against pride, God lays humility as a firm foundation; once humility is set underneath, all other virtues can be erected solidly. But if humility is not at the base, whatever is built –no matter how good– will be destroyed. (St John Chrysostom, Hom. on St Matthew, 15)
* Peace is like a stream and cannot flow upwards, over obstacles. For we know that streams flow down the slopes of the mountains, along the beds of valleys, as it is written: “You shall send forth springs in the vales.” Learn this lesson of charity, because “God resists the proud and gives his grace to the humble.” For the waters of a stream never rise to a higher level than that of its source or origin.
Every proud creature is falsely lifted up above God. God wants His Will to be done, and the proud man wants his own will to be done. These two elements appear to be equal, but they are not. God wishes His Will to be done; and this is always according to reason. The proud man wishes his will to be done with reason or without it. See now how high the proud man makes himself comparing himself with God; the waters of grace cannot flow up such heights. “Unless you be converted,” Christ says, “and become as this little child you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” –here we can understand Christ Himself, the Child whom we must all take as our model. He is the source of life, in whom resides, and from whom flows the fullness of all graces. Thus, prepare the channels; cast down the obstacles of your proud and earthly thoughts; conform yourselves to the Son of Man, for the streams of grace cannot enter into the heart of the proud and carnal, worldly-minded man. (St Bernard, Sermon on Christmas Eve, n. 9)
* A cartful of virtues pulled by pride leads to hell; a cartful of vices pulled by humility leads to heaven. (Attributed to St Bernard)
* Bring me two chariots, with two horses each. The horses of the first chariot should be Justice and Pride; those of the second, Sin and Humility.
Outrunning Justice’s chariot, Sin’s chariot will win; not by its own strength, but by that of its companion, Humility. And the other chariot is beaten, not by the weakness of Justice, but by the weight and size of Pride. (St John Chrysostom, De Incomprehensibile, 5)
* Pride dulls the edge of charity. Ask our Lord each day for the virtue of humility, for you and for everyone. Because as the years go by, pride increases if it is not corrected in time. (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 596)
* Pride sooner or later ends up humiliating a man in front of others, however much of “a man” he is, for he will have been acting like a vain and brainless puppet, moved by Satan’s strings. (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 703)
* Once lust is present, it would be strange if one were not also dominated by pride. (J. Urteaga, Ahora Comienzo!)
Signs of Lack of Humility
* Allow me to remind you that among other evident signs of a lack of humility are:
‑ Thinking that what you do or say is better than what others do or say;
‑ Always wanting to get your own way;
‑ Arguing when you are not right or –when you are– insisting stubbornly or with bad manners;
‑ Giving your opinion without being asked for it, when charity does not demand you to do so;
‑ Despising the point of view of others;
‑ Not being aware that all the gifts and qualities you have are on loan;
‑ Not acknowledging that you are unworthy of all honor or esteem; unworthy of the ground you are treading on; unworthy of the things you own;
‑ Mentioning yourself as an example in conversation;
‑ Speaking badly about yourself, so that they may form a good opinion of you, or contradict you;
‑ Making excuses when rebuked;
‑ Hiding some humiliating faults from your director, so that he may not lose the good opinion he has of you;
‑ Hearing praise with satisfaction, or being glad that others have spoken well of you;
‑ Being hurt that others are held in greater esteem than you;
‑ Refusing to carry out menial tasks;
‑ Seeking or wanting to be singled out;
‑ Letting drop words of self‑praise in conversation, or words that might show your honesty, your wit or skill, your professional prestige...;
‑ Being ashamed of not having certain possessions.... (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 263)
* The greatest obstacles to the soul’s trying to follow Christ and to help others have their origin in a disordered love of self. At times, this leads us to overestimate our strength. At other times, it brings discouragement and pessimism as a result of our own weaknesses and errors.
Pride often reveals itself in an interior monologue, in which we exaggerate the importance of our own interests and get them out of proportion. We end up praising ourselves. In any conversation, pride leads us to talk about ourselves and our affairs, and to want people to have a good opinion of us at any price.
Some people stick to their own opinion, whether it be right or wrong. They seize any chance to point out another’s mistakes, and make it hard to maintain a friendly atmosphere. The most reprehensible way of emphasizing our own worth is by putting down someone else. The proud do not like to hear praise for another person and are always ready to reveal the defects of anyone who stands out from the crowd.
A characteristic note of pride is an impatient dislike of being contradicted or corrected. (E. Boylan, This Tremendous Lover)
* Pride makes itself felt in every aspect of life. In dealings with one’s neighbor, self-love makes us exaggerate our ego and our rights, be cold, indifferent, unjust in our judgments and words.
One delights in speaking about one’s actions, of one’s insights and experiences, of difficulties, of sufferings, even when there is no need to do so.
In practices of piety, one takes pleasure in looking at others, observing and judging them. One is inclined to make comparisons with them, and to believe oneself better; to see only defects in them and deny their good qualities; to attribute to them intentions and aims that are not noble, and even to wish them ill.
Self-love... leads us to feel offended when we are humiliated, insulted, or passed over, or when we are not considered, esteemed, or paid tribute, as we had hoped for. (B. Baur, In Silence with God)
How to Grow in Humility
We can grow in humility by using these means: prayer and mortification. These should help us rid ourselves of the desire to seem important to others; to accept the most unpleasant jobs; to surmount the difficulties, sparing others from facing them; to take the last place, fruit of an interior attitude of self-denial; to serve others, thinking of their needs and how we can be of use to them; in sum, to pass unnoticed, making something great out of what seems small and useless.
* When others give you praise and honor, unite yourself to the scorn, mockeries, and affronts that the Son of God suffered. Be certain that a truly humble soul finds the way to be humble in honor as in contempt; he acts like a bee, which makes its honey not only from the dew fallen on the wormwood but also from that bathing the rose. (St Vincent de Paul)
* Sisters, if one is really humble, I do not think the devil will dare to tempt her to take even the slightest interest in matters of precedence and rights.
If a humble soul is tempted in this way by the devil, her humility will even grow in strength and with deeds. For clearly she will look into her life; she will compare the services she has rendered with what she owes the Lord; she will consider the marvelous way in which the Lord abased himself to give us an example of humility; she will think over her sins and remember where she deserves to be, on account of them.
Considerations like these bring the soul such profit that, on the following day, Satan will not dare to come back again lest he should get his head crushed. (St Teresa, The Way of Perfection, 12, 6)
* There are three ways to arrive at a sincere humility of heart:
A. TO ASK GOD FOR IT CONSTANTLY.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17). Perfect humility is a gift of God; he grants it to those who ask for it with fervent and constant prayer. This should be one of our most frequent petitions.
B. TO IMITATE CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE MODEL OF HUMILITY.
The splendid examples of humility left by the Divine Master are very useful for us. We should practice this virtue, against the resistance offered by our inordinate self-love. Jesus himself invites us to look at him: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29).
We may consider Jesus’ humility in the four periods of his life:
1. In his hidden life:
a) Before he was born: Jesus became man. While in Mary’s womb, he submitted himself to a whimsical decree of Caesar, to the consequences of poverty (“there was no place for them at the inn”), to the ingratitude of men (“his own did not receive him”).
b) At his birth: He was born poor and unknown, at night in a manger among shepherds and animals.
c) In Nazareth: He led an obscure life. He was a manual worker, a poor peasant, without a title or degree, without manifesting a glimpse of his divinity; he always obeyed his parents (“he was subject to them”). “Pride, come and die of shame!” (Bossuet).
2. In his public life:
a) Jesus chose his disciples from among the more ignorant and rude; he chose fishermen and a publican.
b) He did not discriminate against anyone; he sought also the poor, the sinners, the afflicted, the children, and the forsaken.
c) He lived poorly but not miserably; he preached with simplicity. He placed himself at the level of the listeners; he used humble comparisons easily understood by the people. He did not want to draw attention unnecessarily.
d) He performed miracles only to prove his divine nature; he did so without fanfare, demanded silence, and escaped when they tried to make him a king.
e) He taught us to be humble in whatever situation; thus, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, the simplicity of the dove, like children, “I do not seek my own glory,” “I have not come to be served but to serve.”
3. In his Passion:
a) Jesus lived simplicity amid success. During his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, all he had was a poor donkey, some olive branches, and cloaks spread along his path, with simple folk acclaiming him, and the Pharisees protesting.
b) He lived a spirit of service and loyalty toward his friends. Thus he washed the feet of the disciples, even those of Judas. In Gethsemani, he calmly asked Judas, “My friend, on what errand have you come?” Then he was tied up like a dangerous bandit, abandoned by the disciples.
c) He lived patience and endurance in adversity while they mocked him, scorned him, spat upon him, struck him, buffeted him with open hands, scourged him, crowned him with thorns, put a white garment on him like a mad man. Barabbas was preferred to Jesus.
d) He accepted God’s Will, and on the Cross suffered blasphemies and scorn: “If you are the Son of God, come down!”. He could have commanded the earth to open up and swallow them, but he remained silent and accepted the horrible human failure.
4. In the Eucharist:
a) Jesus is, at the will of the ministers, exposed, enclosed, visited, forsaken.
b) Hidden: “In cruce latebat sola deitas” (“Only his divine nature was hidden on the Cross”), here even his human nature is unseen.
c) Jesus remains subject to our lack of refinement, to outrages, to sacrilege, to appalling profanations.
C. TO IMITATE MARY, THE QUEEN OF THE HUMBLE.
After Jesus, Mary is the most marvelous example of humility.#1
FOOTNOTE:
1. Cf. A. Royo Marin, Teologia de la Perfeccion Cristiana, no. 468.
* If you ask me what is most essential in the discipline of Christ, I shall answer: The first is humility, the second humility, and the third humility. (St Augustine, Letter 118)
* Prayer is the humility of the man who acknowledges his profound wretchedness and the greatness of God. He addresses and adores God as one who expects everything from Him and nothing from himself.
Faith is the humility of the mind that renounces its own judgment and surrenders to the verdict and authority of the Church.
Obedience is the humility of the will that subjects itself to the will of another, for God’s sake.
Chastity is the humility of the flesh, which subjects itself to the spirit.
Exterior mortification is the humility of the senses.
Penance is the humility of all the passions, immolated to the Lord.
Humility is truth on the road to the ascetic struggle. (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 259)
* This is the foundation of humility: To consider oneself a sinner and to believe oneself incapable of doing anything good before God.
This is the practice of humility: To love silence, not to compare oneself with anyone, not to contradict, to be submissive, to guard one’s eyes, to have death always in view, to abhor lies, to flee from vain and boastful talk, not to oppose authority, not to persist in one’s own opinion, to endure insults, to hate vice, to avoid idleness, and to be watchful.
My brother, observe these precepts; otherwise your soul will become a den of vicious affections. Strive hard to fulfill each one of them; thus, the short span of your life will not become empty and barren. (St John Damascene, Sacra Parallela, lib. III, ch. 84)
* Man is related to nothingness, but only in his origin, not in his destiny. Some men get back to nothingness through despair; they put nothingness as their end. The Christian knows nothingness only through self-denial, which is humility; he puts nothingness at the beginning, for man was created from nothing.
The more the pagan “nothings” himself, the closer he gets to the hell of despair and suicide. The more the Christian “nothings” himself, the closer he gets to God.
Mary went so deep down into nothingness that she became exalted. Respexit humilitatem ancillae suae. And her exaltation was also her Assumption. (Cf. F. Sheen, The World’s First Love)
* Humility is the rejection of appearances and superficiality; it is the expression of the depth of a man’s soul; it is a condition for his greatness. (John Paul II, Angelus, March 4, 1979)
* My little children, be humble, be lowly. (St Philip Neri)
* Do you want to be great? Become little. Do you plan to erect a building of colossal height? Apply yourself first to set a solid foundation –the higher your building, the deeper the foundation should be. The building will be going up; it will soar high; but first someone must dig the foundations, sink in the depths. Before going up, buildings go down; they humble themselves. The finials and pinnacles gracefully stand up only after the humiliation. (St Augustine, Sermon 142)
* Don’t aspire to be like the gilded weather vane on top of a great building. However much it may glitter, however high it may be, it adds nothing to the firmness of the structure.
Rather be like an old stone block hidden in the foundations, under the ground where no one can see you. Because of you, the house will not fall. (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 590)
* Pay no attention to the matters in which you are better than others, but to those in which you are worse. Keep before you the example of those that are better than you, and, through humility, you will ascend to greater things, with God’s help. (St Gregory the Great, Homily 7 on the Gospel)
* Love humility; it is the foundation and sentinel of all virtues. (St Bernard, Sermon 1, on Our Lord’s Nativity)
Fruits of Humility
Peace is a consequence of humility. The humble man is a realist; he knows that he makes mistakes, and he admits them readily. He attributes his supernatural effectiveness to God alone. His peace is a prelude to an eternal peace in heaven.
* The path of humility takes you everywhere ... but above all to Heaven. (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 282)
* Whoever does not want to humble himself cannot be saved. (St Bede, Commentary On the Gospel of St Luke, 1)
* You can do so much good, and yet also so much harm!
You will do good if you are humble, and give yourself cheerfully, with a spirit of sacrifice; you will do good for yourself and for your fellow men, and for the Church, this good Mother of ours.
But how much harm you will do, if you are led by your pride. (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 935)
* This is the sure way: through humiliation, to the Cross; from the Cross –with Christ– to the immortal Glory of the Father. (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 1020)
* How much I savored the epistle of that day! The Holy Spirit, through Saint Paul, teaches us the secret of immortality and of Glory. All of us human beings yearn to live on.
We wish to make the happy moments of our lives last forever. We wish to glorify our memory forever. We wish immortality for our cherished ideals. Thus, when we seem to be happy, when something consoles us in our distress, we all naturally say and desire: forever, forever.
Oh the wisdom of the devil! How well he knew the human heart! “You will be like gods,” he said to our first parents. That was a cruel deception. St Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians teaches us a divine secret to attain immortality and Glory: “Jesus ... humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on the Cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth....” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 1021)
The Struggle against Pride
Pride makes us live falsely, out of touch with reality. When we think we are able to do something on our own, the sad experience of failure fills our soul with uneasiness, unrest, and lack of peace.
Pride and sensuality, sources of most of our problems, have their common root in an excessive love for self; both may be overcome by prayer, mortification, thinking of others, and forgetting about ourselves.
* It is important to remember that humility is truth; a man is humble to the same degree that he is truthful, to the same degree that he sees the truth.
Again it is necessary to insist on the subtle difference between understanding and seeing. For instance, we could understand perfectly the argument of a mathematical proposition, and still not be able to see it. Everyone understands that he is a creature, and however little he thinks, he also understands the consequences that follow. Nevertheless, those who can fathom the tremendous depths of this truth are very few. One can have eyes and not see, ears and not hear, intelligence and not be able to reason correctly; for there is also a close relationship between humility and sight, between pride and blindness.
The man who is humble sees. There are certain things that are revealed only to children and to those who are like children, things that are hidden from the wise men of this world.
Pride destroys in man the capacity to see ultimate realities, realities of the supernatural world that, because of their depth, require great penetration. Pride distorts reality because, seen through a veil, reality becomes deformed and blurred. Pride makes us lose all sense of proportion, because it completely disrupts our sense of measure and distance. The tree in the wood that is nearest to us may seem the biggest, but that does not mean that it is the biggest, something that a normal person realizes perfectly. If one acts according to what seems and not according to what is, one gets involved in all kinds of absurdities.
It is a very old problem. St Paul, during the clash between Christianity and the pagan world, saw very vividly the monstrosities produced by pride–that is, blindness–in these haughty sages of the ancient world. The words he uses describe this phenomenon, although written centuries ago, are still applicable today.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities –his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. The exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator –who is blessed for ever. Amen.
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful affections. Even their women have exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents. They are foolish, dissolute; without affection, without fidelity, without mercy” (Rom 1:18-31). (F. Suarez, Mary of Nazareth, 2)
* You don’t conquer yourself, you aren’t mortified, because you are proud. You lead a life of penance? Remember: Pride can exist with penance.
Furthermore, your sorrow, after your falls, after your failures in generosity, is it really sorrow, or is it the frustration of seeing yourself so small and weak?
How far are you from Jesus if you are not humble ... even if new roses blossom every day from your disciplines! (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 200)
* The proud –poor creatures!– have to suffer a thousand silly little things which their self‑love makes out to be enormous but are unnoticed by others. (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 714)
* Christ (cf. Mt 22:39) and St Paul the Apostle (cf. Rom 13:10) tell us that “love is the fullness of the law,” but humility is the nurse of love, and pride is the mother of hatred. Thus, humility is the root of every good, and pride of every evil. (St John Chrysostom, Hom. X in Evang. sec. Matth.)
* Pride was the root and fountain spring of man’s wickedness. Against pride, God lays humility as a firm foundation; once humility is set underneath, all other virtues can be erected solidly. But if humility is not at the base, whatever is built –no matter how good– will be destroyed. (St John Chrysostom, Hom. on St Matthew, 15)
* Peace is like a stream and cannot flow upwards, over obstacles. For we know that streams flow down the slopes of the mountains, along the beds of valleys, as it is written: “You shall send forth springs in the vales.” Learn this lesson of charity, because “God resists the proud and gives his grace to the humble.” For the waters of a stream never rise to a higher level than that of its source or origin.
Every proud creature is falsely lifted up above God. God wants His Will to be done, and the proud man wants his own will to be done. These two elements appear to be equal, but they are not. God wishes His Will to be done; and this is always according to reason. The proud man wishes his will to be done with reason or without it. See now how high the proud man makes himself comparing himself with God; the waters of grace cannot flow up such heights. “Unless you be converted,” Christ says, “and become as this little child you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” –here we can understand Christ Himself, the Child whom we must all take as our model. He is the source of life, in whom resides, and from whom flows the fullness of all graces. Thus, prepare the channels; cast down the obstacles of your proud and earthly thoughts; conform yourselves to the Son of Man, for the streams of grace cannot enter into the heart of the proud and carnal, worldly-minded man. (St Bernard, Sermon on Christmas Eve, n. 9)
* A cartful of virtues pulled by pride leads to hell; a cartful of vices pulled by humility leads to heaven. (Attributed to St Bernard)
* Bring me two chariots, with two horses each. The horses of the first chariot should be Justice and Pride; those of the second, Sin and Humility.
Outrunning Justice’s chariot, Sin’s chariot will win; not by its own strength, but by that of its companion, Humility. And the other chariot is beaten, not by the weakness of Justice, but by the weight and size of Pride. (St John Chrysostom, De Incomprehensibile, 5)
* Pride dulls the edge of charity. Ask our Lord each day for the virtue of humility, for you and for everyone. Because as the years go by, pride increases if it is not corrected in time. (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 596)
* Pride sooner or later ends up humiliating a man in front of others, however much of “a man” he is, for he will have been acting like a vain and brainless puppet, moved by Satan’s strings. (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 703)
* Once lust is present, it would be strange if one were not also dominated by pride. (J. Urteaga, Ahora Comienzo!)
Signs of Lack of Humility
* Allow me to remind you that among other evident signs of a lack of humility are:
‑ Thinking that what you do or say is better than what others do or say;
‑ Always wanting to get your own way;
‑ Arguing when you are not right or –when you are– insisting stubbornly or with bad manners;
‑ Giving your opinion without being asked for it, when charity does not demand you to do so;
‑ Despising the point of view of others;
‑ Not being aware that all the gifts and qualities you have are on loan;
‑ Not acknowledging that you are unworthy of all honor or esteem; unworthy of the ground you are treading on; unworthy of the things you own;
‑ Mentioning yourself as an example in conversation;
‑ Speaking badly about yourself, so that they may form a good opinion of you, or contradict you;
‑ Making excuses when rebuked;
‑ Hiding some humiliating faults from your director, so that he may not lose the good opinion he has of you;
‑ Hearing praise with satisfaction, or being glad that others have spoken well of you;
‑ Being hurt that others are held in greater esteem than you;
‑ Refusing to carry out menial tasks;
‑ Seeking or wanting to be singled out;
‑ Letting drop words of self‑praise in conversation, or words that might show your honesty, your wit or skill, your professional prestige...;
‑ Being ashamed of not having certain possessions.... (J. Escrivá, Furrow, n. 263)
* The greatest obstacles to the soul’s trying to follow Christ and to help others have their origin in a disordered love of self. At times, this leads us to overestimate our strength. At other times, it brings discouragement and pessimism as a result of our own weaknesses and errors.
Pride often reveals itself in an interior monologue, in which we exaggerate the importance of our own interests and get them out of proportion. We end up praising ourselves. In any conversation, pride leads us to talk about ourselves and our affairs, and to want people to have a good opinion of us at any price.
Some people stick to their own opinion, whether it be right or wrong. They seize any chance to point out another’s mistakes, and make it hard to maintain a friendly atmosphere. The most reprehensible way of emphasizing our own worth is by putting down someone else. The proud do not like to hear praise for another person and are always ready to reveal the defects of anyone who stands out from the crowd.
A characteristic note of pride is an impatient dislike of being contradicted or corrected. (E. Boylan, This Tremendous Lover)
* Pride makes itself felt in every aspect of life. In dealings with one’s neighbor, self-love makes us exaggerate our ego and our rights, be cold, indifferent, unjust in our judgments and words.
One delights in speaking about one’s actions, of one’s insights and experiences, of difficulties, of sufferings, even when there is no need to do so.
In practices of piety, one takes pleasure in looking at others, observing and judging them. One is inclined to make comparisons with them, and to believe oneself better; to see only defects in them and deny their good qualities; to attribute to them intentions and aims that are not noble, and even to wish them ill.
Self-love... leads us to feel offended when we are humiliated, insulted, or passed over, or when we are not considered, esteemed, or paid tribute, as we had hoped for. (B. Baur, In Silence with God)
How to Grow in Humility
We can grow in humility by using these means: prayer and mortification. These should help us rid ourselves of the desire to seem important to others; to accept the most unpleasant jobs; to surmount the difficulties, sparing others from facing them; to take the last place, fruit of an interior attitude of self-denial; to serve others, thinking of their needs and how we can be of use to them; in sum, to pass unnoticed, making something great out of what seems small and useless.
* When others give you praise and honor, unite yourself to the scorn, mockeries, and affronts that the Son of God suffered. Be certain that a truly humble soul finds the way to be humble in honor as in contempt; he acts like a bee, which makes its honey not only from the dew fallen on the wormwood but also from that bathing the rose. (St Vincent de Paul)
* Sisters, if one is really humble, I do not think the devil will dare to tempt her to take even the slightest interest in matters of precedence and rights.
If a humble soul is tempted in this way by the devil, her humility will even grow in strength and with deeds. For clearly she will look into her life; she will compare the services she has rendered with what she owes the Lord; she will consider the marvelous way in which the Lord abased himself to give us an example of humility; she will think over her sins and remember where she deserves to be, on account of them.
Considerations like these bring the soul such profit that, on the following day, Satan will not dare to come back again lest he should get his head crushed. (St Teresa, The Way of Perfection, 12, 6)
* There are three ways to arrive at a sincere humility of heart:
A. TO ASK GOD FOR IT CONSTANTLY.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17). Perfect humility is a gift of God; he grants it to those who ask for it with fervent and constant prayer. This should be one of our most frequent petitions.
B. TO IMITATE CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE MODEL OF HUMILITY.
The splendid examples of humility left by the Divine Master are very useful for us. We should practice this virtue, against the resistance offered by our inordinate self-love. Jesus himself invites us to look at him: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29).
We may consider Jesus’ humility in the four periods of his life:
1. In his hidden life:
a) Before he was born: Jesus became man. While in Mary’s womb, he submitted himself to a whimsical decree of Caesar, to the consequences of poverty (“there was no place for them at the inn”), to the ingratitude of men (“his own did not receive him”).
b) At his birth: He was born poor and unknown, at night in a manger among shepherds and animals.
c) In Nazareth: He led an obscure life. He was a manual worker, a poor peasant, without a title or degree, without manifesting a glimpse of his divinity; he always obeyed his parents (“he was subject to them”). “Pride, come and die of shame!” (Bossuet).
2. In his public life:
a) Jesus chose his disciples from among the more ignorant and rude; he chose fishermen and a publican.
b) He did not discriminate against anyone; he sought also the poor, the sinners, the afflicted, the children, and the forsaken.
c) He lived poorly but not miserably; he preached with simplicity. He placed himself at the level of the listeners; he used humble comparisons easily understood by the people. He did not want to draw attention unnecessarily.
d) He performed miracles only to prove his divine nature; he did so without fanfare, demanded silence, and escaped when they tried to make him a king.
e) He taught us to be humble in whatever situation; thus, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, the simplicity of the dove, like children, “I do not seek my own glory,” “I have not come to be served but to serve.”
3. In his Passion:
a) Jesus lived simplicity amid success. During his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, all he had was a poor donkey, some olive branches, and cloaks spread along his path, with simple folk acclaiming him, and the Pharisees protesting.
b) He lived a spirit of service and loyalty toward his friends. Thus he washed the feet of the disciples, even those of Judas. In Gethsemani, he calmly asked Judas, “My friend, on what errand have you come?” Then he was tied up like a dangerous bandit, abandoned by the disciples.
c) He lived patience and endurance in adversity while they mocked him, scorned him, spat upon him, struck him, buffeted him with open hands, scourged him, crowned him with thorns, put a white garment on him like a mad man. Barabbas was preferred to Jesus.
d) He accepted God’s Will, and on the Cross suffered blasphemies and scorn: “If you are the Son of God, come down!”. He could have commanded the earth to open up and swallow them, but he remained silent and accepted the horrible human failure.
4. In the Eucharist:
a) Jesus is, at the will of the ministers, exposed, enclosed, visited, forsaken.
b) Hidden: “In cruce latebat sola deitas” (“Only his divine nature was hidden on the Cross”), here even his human nature is unseen.
c) Jesus remains subject to our lack of refinement, to outrages, to sacrilege, to appalling profanations.
C. TO IMITATE MARY, THE QUEEN OF THE HUMBLE.
After Jesus, Mary is the most marvelous example of humility.#1
FOOTNOTE:
1. Cf. A. Royo Marin, Teologia de la Perfeccion Cristiana, no. 468.