Our Lord’s Example of Humility
At His Incarnation
* At his Incarnation, our Lord, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, assumed a human nature –body and soul. Jesus received into his soul all that can be known by any created nature. He saw clearly with his human intelligence that his own human nature was something created.
Jesus’ human will, being perfect and unimpeded in its operations by any play of the passions, found no difficulty in conducting itself in a manner befitting its state: that of a created will that owes all to God. The Will of his Father was the rule of conduct to which Jesus unswervingly conformed.
Our Lord’s relations with his heavenly Father were characterized by the most profound humility, stamped with the profoundest reverence.
Reverence toward one’s Creator is essential in man’s dealings with God; such reverence was the great passion of our Lord’s life: “Zelus domus tuae comedit me”–”For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up” (Jn 2:17). While sin and ignorance found him ever compassionate and merciful, irreverence toward God roused him to stern and terrible anger, for he saw in it the subversion of the order of truth and of justice.
As reverence begets humility, so does irreverence nurture pride. “Humility is the just and truthful expression in our thought, sense, and conduct of our nature, our position and our dependence as the subjects of God; it is the order arising out of that subjection and dependence.”#1
This reverence toward God demands submission not only to God’s Will but also to God’s Providence. In his submission to the Providence of God, Jesus is the standard and exemplar of humility. He has given the highest possible expression of this virtue by accepting, without complaint, all the consequences that followed from his taking his place among fallen creatures.
Inspired by a love for us that reached beyond the limits of sacrifice, Jesus made, for the sake of our salvation, a deliberate choice in his entry into this world. What was that choice? He chose to be like a creature –though perfectly just and holy– among fallen creatures in a fallen world, to be a man among sinful men, and to submit to all the consequences flowing from such a condition. He could not renounce his personal holiness, he could not commit sin, but he accepted all the living conditions of a sinful man (cf. Phil 2:5-8).
Nevertheless, our Lord’s humility did not consist in this particular choice of his –that was dictated by infinite love, not by humility. Neither did his humility consist in the poverty, obscurity, and pain of his life on earth –a person may be in the most humble circumstances without being in the least bit humble. It consisted entirely in the inner disposition of his will toward all these things.
Having chosen the condition of a sinful creature, Jesus accepted whatever might befall him as a consequence of that choice; he did not rebel against God’s plan of salvation. This was his humility: not clinging to what was his by nature but to what was his by choice. By nature, in virtue both of his divine nature and his sinless earthly origin, he was not subject to mortality. By choice, he made his own the lot of fallen humanity.#2
* Brothers, we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride, and foolish anger. Let us fulfill what is written.... For Christ belongs to the humble and not to those who exalt themselves above His flock. The Lord Jesus Christ, having the scepter of God’s greatness, did not come into the world with pomp and arrogance, although he could have come thus. He came in a spirit of humility, as the Holy Spirit said of him: “I am a worm, not a man; the scorn of men, despised by people.” Dearly beloved, look at the example he gives us. If the Lord humbled himself to his extent, what should we do, who–through him–have placed ourselves under the influence of his grace? (St Clement of Rome, Epist. to the Cor., 13 and 16)
* Jesus lived for nine months in the virginal womb of Mary, concealing his divine attributes: “He emptied himself” (Phil 2:7).
Together with Mary and Joseph, Jesus practiced self-effacement by submitting to Caesar’s edict; by enduring the rude refusals they had to face, without a complaint: “There was no room for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7).
But above all, Jesus suffered humiliation by being the object of the ingratitude of men, who did not make a place for him in their hearts: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). (A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* He who is greater than the universe enclosed himself in a Virgin’s womb. (St John Chrysostom, Catena Aurea, 1, p. 437)
* In the genealogy of his Gospel, St Matthew included, among our Lord’s ancestors, four women who led less than virtuous lives.#3
These women are one sign among many others of God’s design to save all men. Born of sinners, Jesus came to take away the sins of all.
Our Lord did not refuse even a stained ancestry, so that his Church would not be ashamed of being composed of sinners. By mentioning sinful people among Christ’s ancestors, the Gospel shows that God’s ways are different from man’s. God will sometimes carry out his plan of salvation by means of people whose conduct has not been just. God saves us, sanctifies us, and chooses us to do good despite our sins and infidelities.
Jesus also showed that a stain in one’s lineage is not an obstacle for virtue, and that no one should boast of his patrician roots. (Cf. St Ambrose, Comment on the Gospel of St Luke, 3; St Jerome, Catena Aurea, 1, 45-46)
Humility at His Birth
* Jesus was born a poor infant, wrapped in swaddling clothes, placed in a manger, and laid upon a bit of straw. And this little Child is the Son of God, co-equal with the Father, uncreated Wisdom! (A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* Learn, o man, and acknowledge how far God has gone for you. Here, in Bethlehem, you have a teacher teaching without being able to speak; learn his lesson of humility. In paradise, you gave name to every kind of animal; here, your Creator has become a little child, unable to call even his own Mother. In that vast wood, you were lost by disobedience; in this narrow dwelling, he has become a mortal man to seek, by dying, you, who were dead. You, man, wanted to be like God, and perished; he, God, wanted to become a man, and saved you. Such was the outcome of human pride that it needed divine humility to be cured! (St Augustine, Sermon 183)
* Consider what is most beautiful and most noble on earth, what pleases the mind and the other faculties, and what delights the flesh and the senses. Consider the world, and the other worlds that shine in the night–the whole universe.
And this, along with all the satisfied follies of the heart, is worth nothing, is nothing and less than nothing, compared with this God of mine! –of yours! Infinite treasure, most beautiful pearl ... humbled, become a slave, reduced to nothingness in the form of a servant in the stable where he willed to be born ... in Joseph’s workshop, in his passion and in his ignominious death, and in the frenzy of Love–the Blessed Eucharist. (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 432 )
* Whoever makes himself one of our race enters into our condition. And this our Lord did. Having chosen to be like a sinful creature among sinful and imperfect creatures, he never for one single instant sought to emancipate himself from the consequences of that condition. Since that was his condition before God and man, he firmly abided in it and conducted himself accordingly.
When his life was sought by a powerful prince, he did not use his divine power, as he could have done, to escape the hatred of his enemy; he did simply what any human being would do: to find refuge in a foreign country. The poverty, powerlessness, want of influence accompanying his life left him without any other means of saving himself from death, except flight and trust in the guiding protection of God.
He was not embittered at the cruelty and wickedness of his enemy. For wrongdoing, injustice, tyranny and the persecution of the good are in the order of Providence.
He submitted meekly to all these because they were the consequences of the condition he had put himself in, and in this lies his humility. And in this he asks us to imitate him, while at the same time encouraging us by the thought that our souls can find rest and peace by imitating him.#4
* “You shall find,” says the angel, “the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.” How is it that only humility, that is , the Child, seems to have been mentioned by the angel, when in fact more than humility was to be found by the shepherds? Perhaps the angel emphasizes humility alone because, when the other angels fell through pride, he himself stood firm in his humility. Or perhaps because humility is a heavenly virtue and most adequate to the Divine Majesty.
But humility cannot be found alone, it is always found accompanied by many other graces and virtues, thus the Gospel describes later on: “They came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger.” Just as the infancy of the Savior is the example of humility, Mary is the example of purity and Joseph of justice.
When there is no humility, there is no purity, and no justice.
The impure man disgraces himself; the unjust man offends his neighbor; the proud man, who thinks himself great and important, dishonors God.
Humility reconciles us to God, makes us subject to him, pleasing to him; as the Blessed Virgin says: “He has regarded the humility of his handmaid.” (St Bernard, Sermon on Christmas Day, n. 2)
Jesus’ Life in Nazareth
* After his birth, Jesus was circumcised, like any ordinary Jewish boy. He had to flee to Egypt to escape from the hand of Herod, even though, with one word, Jesus could have reduced the wicked king to dust.
Jesus’ life at Nazareth was one of continued self-effacement. Hidden away in a small Galilean village, he at first helped his mother in her household duties, then he became an apprentice, a workman, and spent thirty years in obedience to two human beings. He, the Lord of the World, was known only as a carpenter, the son of a carpenter, and nothing more. (A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* Jesus came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them (Lk 2:51).
Christ, to whom the universe submits, becomes obedient to his own. (St Augustine, Sermon 51)
* Who was subject to whom? A God to men. God, I repeat, to whom the angels are subject, was subject to Mary. And not alone to Mary, but to Joseph also, because of Mary. Admire and revere both the one and the other, and choose which you admire the more, the most sweet deference of the Son or the sublime dignity of the Mother. That God should obey a woman is humility without compare; that a woman should have rule over God is a dignity without equal. (St Bernard, Homily on the Feast of the Holy Family)
* “Are you hurt for being abased by humility?” the Lord asks us. “Look at me; consider the examples I have given you, and you will see the greatness of this virtue.” (St John Chrysostom, Hom. on St Matthew, 38)
* Jesus, humble, did not do anything out of ostentation. (Theophilactus, Comment. on the Gospel of St Mark)
* We will never achieve true supernatural and human cheerfulness, real good humor, if we don’t really imitate Jesus; if we aren’t humble, as he was. (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 590)
The Public Life of Jesus
* Christ in his humility is the way to heaven. After forty days of penance in the desert our Lord was tempted by the devil. Jesus was hungry; he lowered himself to this level because this too was part of his humiliation. Christ, the Bread, was hungry, the Way was lost, our Medicine was wounded, and Life died. He was thirsty, he was weary, he slept; he was seized, beaten, and put to death.
This is His way: walk in humility if you want to reach eternal life. Christ as God is the land toward which we are going, Christ as man is the way to go there. To him we go; by him we go. Undivided from the Father, yet he came to us. Nursed at the breast, yet he holds the world in his hand. Laying in the manger, yet he sustains the angels in existence. God and Man; the same is God who is Man.
Here on earth he is destitute, poor. Having suffered in his lowliness, having died, and been buried, he has risen, ascended into heaven, and there he abides, sitting at the right hand of the Father. (St Augustine, Sermon 123)
* Jesus chose to be baptized in water by John, not to be washed of any sin but to manifest his great humility. For baptism certainly found nothing in him that needed to be washed away, just as death found nothing in him that needed to be punished. (St Augustine, Faith, Hope and Charity, 14)
* During his public life, Jesus practiced humility, making it compatible with his mission. He had to proclaim, by word and deeds, that he is the Son of God; yet, he did so in a discreet way, with sufficient clarity so as to reach the minds of men of good will, but not with such evidence as to force assent. His humility appeared in everything he did.
Jesus surrounded himself with apostles, ignorant and uncouth, little esteemed–eleven fishermen and a publican. He showed a marked preference for those whom the world either paid little attention to or despised: the poor, sinners, the afflicted, little children, those disowned by all. He had no place to lay his head.
His teaching was plain and simple, within the reach of all, and his parables were taken from ordinary life. He did not seek to elicit the admiration of men, but instead sought to instruct them and to touch their hearts.
Jesus’ miracles were rare occurrences. He performed them only to manifest his divine nature; thus, he often charged bystanders to tell no man. There was no studied austerity in his life; he ate like everyone else, attended a wedding feast at Cana, and was invited to some banquets.
Jesus shunned popularity, and did not hesitate to displease his disciples when it was necessary to do so. He escaped when the people wanted to make him a king.
As for his innermost sentiments, he lived in complete dependence upon his Father God. He spoke only to teach the doctrine of his Father, who sent him. He did not seek his own glory, but that of his Father; he came to earth for this cause.
The Lord of Creation became the servant of men: “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve” (Mt 20:28). (A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* Jesus wanted to be baptized, to recommend, by his humility, what was a necessity for us. (St Augustine, Sermon 51)
* We read in the Scripture: “The just will blossom like a lily” (Hos 14:6). But who is just if he is not humble?
If we are humble, we will also blossom like the lily and thrive eternally in the house of the Lord. We will be like Jesus, for he “will transform this lowly body of ours into copies of his glorious body” (Phil 3:21). Sacred Scripture does not say, “our body,” but “this lowly body of ours,” meaning that only the humble will be glorified and clothed with the marvelous whiteness of the lily.
We also read: “I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys” (Song of Songs 2:1).
The Lord, Jesus Christ, bowed down to a servant, St John, to be baptized; the Baptist tried to dissuade him. “Give in for now,” Jesus told him, “we must do this” (Mt 3:15). He confirmed that humility is the culmination of justice. Thus, the just person is humble; he is like a valley.
Let this be said to understand that Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Song of Songs, is the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. (St Bernard, Super Cantica, Serm. 47)
* See how humble our Jesus is: A donkey was his throne in Jerusalem! (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 606)
* Humility is one of the good ways to achieve interior peace. He has said so: “Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 607)
Jesus’ Passion and Death
* After the fall of man, sin conquered the world. Original sin turned the world into an unsupernatural world, one from which the divinity was banished. It had to be reconquered for the divine realm by our Lord Jesus Christ.
When he came to the world, Jesus faced an irreconcilable opposition from all its forces. He stood for the divine; the world stood for the anti-divine. From the first instant of his earthly existence, he was involved in conflict. It was the conflict of light against darkness, of truth against falsehood, of the redeeming God against unredeemed men. St Paul speaks of the kingdom of sin arrayed against the kingdom of justice. St John contrasts the two as darkness and light. In the psalms, reference is also made to this inevitable war: “Why have the Gentiles raged and the people desired vain things?” (Ps 2:1).
There could be only one outcome from this combat: Jesus’ conquest, though his humanity would undergo death in the struggle. If Jesus’ humanity once yielded to impatience or irritation, sin would have conquered; but no, that humanity stood firm unto death. Jesus conquered by suffering death.
Jesus died in so far as God could die, that is, in Jesus’ human nature. Our Lord’s death was no accident; it was a consequence of his life and teaching. He stood in a world arrayed in hostility against him. He was the only Divine Being in a world that was undivine. He was the only light in a world of darkness, and that world hated to be illuminated and therefore strove to extinguish the light. “And this is the judgment; because the light has come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil” (Jn 2:19).
There was no truce possible: “What fellowship hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14-15). Our Lord knew what was to be his fate if he chose to live his life according to the conditions of man. He resented nothing that happened to him, accepting all as the inevitable condition of his lot, neither striving to lift himself above it, nor using his divine power to escape it. This was his humility.
Jesus achieved the victory and secured the supremacy of the divine in the world, “blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. He has done away with it by nailing it to the Cross; despoiling the principalities and powers. He paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession” (Col 2:14-15).#5
* Jesus’ humility was even more apparent in his Passion. He, who knew no sin, suffered the penalty of the guilty.
He bore the crushing load of our sins in Gethsemane; betrayed by Judas, he had only friendly words for him; deserted by the apostles, he continued loving them. Arrested and bound like a common criminal, he cured Malchus. Slandered, he did not defend himself. In danger of death, he spoke only the truth. Treated like a fool by Herod, he kept silence. Rejected by the people in favor of Barabbas, he still suffered for their conversion. Condemned by Pilate, he kept his peace. Scourged, crowned with thorns, vilified, he accepted the heavy Cross.
Deprived of all heavenly comfort, deserted by his disciples, Jesus could say: “I am a worm, not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people” (Ps 22:7). “When he was insulted, he did not retaliate with insults; when he was tortured, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet 2:23). How then can we, who are so full of guilt, ever complain, even if we were unjustly accused? (Cf. A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* Jesus interceded for our sins as if they were his own. When a man commits a heinous crime, his friends and relatives disavow him and desert him to avoid being implicated in the crime. If there is a father or friend willing to help, he always begins repudiating the evil deed and showing himself free from guilt and not connected with the crime.
But our merciful Lord, lover of our souls, took all the blame of our sins upon himself, and covered his face with shame. He acknowledged and recognized us before the tribunal of God, not only as his friends and relatives, but as his brothers and sons, and even as members of his own Body–the Church– of which he is the Head.
Jesus not only interceded for our forgiveness, but also offered himself to pay the penalty that we deserved, as if he were the malefactor.
Yet the sorrows of our Lord could have been lesser, had they not been increased by our ingratitude and neglect to return his love. (L. de la Palma, History of the Sacred Passion, 8)
* Among the calumnies and accusations of false witnesses, our Lord kept silence before the Sanhedrin as if they were not speaking of him. His first reply had been ill-received; it was manifest that the judges would not listen to the truth. The court was a tribunal only in appearance, in truth a seat of violence and a robbers’ den. Jesus sought to benefit all the absent and all to come after him by keeping silence and giving an admirable example of meekness and humility.
He taught us that silence gives perfection and beauty to patience, and that it is great to persevere and suffer in silence in the midst of injuries, hatred, and insults; the more false and full of prejudices the accusation is, the greater the merit gained. (L. de la Palma, History of the Sacred Passion, 12)
* “Jesus remained silent.”–Iesus autem tacebat. Why do you speak, to console yourself or to explain yourself?
Say nothing. Seek joy in contempt; you’ll always receive less contempt than you deserve. Can you, by any chance, ask, Quid enim mali feci? –”What evil have I done?” (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 671)
* The Creator of the world, offended by man, offered his own Blood as compensation for man’s sins. From the day of his birth in Bethlehem until the end of his Passion, this mystery of our salvation was largely accomplished by his humility. (St Leo the Great, Sermon 72, On the Lord’s Ascension)
* The devil’s pride was the cause of our ruin; God’s humility, the foundation of our redemption. (St Gregory the Great, Regula Pastoralis, 3, 18)
* Are you looking for an example of humility? Look at the Man on the Cross. Being God, he wanted to be judged under the power of Pontius Pilate, and to die. (St Thomas of Aquinas, On the Creed, 6, 1)
* Let the humble know that our Redeemer “humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a Cross” (Phil 2:8); let the proud know that this is written of their leader, the devil: “He is king over all proud beasts” (Job 41:26). The origin of our ruin was the pride of the devil; the source of our redemption was the humility of God.
Though created by God as all other creatures, our enemy wanted to excel above all; our Redeemer, the greatest among all, deigned to become the least among all. Let the humble know that the more they lower themselves, the more they resemble God. Let the proud know that the more they extol themselves, the faster they crash to the ground like the apostate angel.
What can be worse than pride? The higher the proud raises himself, the further he falls from the heights of true sublimity. What can be more glorious than humility? The lower the humble sinks, the closer he becomes to his Creator, who dwells in the highest. (St Gregory the Great, Past., III, Adm. XVIII)
In the Eucharist, Jesus’ Divine Nature Is Veiled
* The humility of Jesus was manifest in Bethlehem, in Nazareth, and on Calvary. Yet, our Lord undergoes still more humiliation and more self‑abasement in the most sacred host; more than in the stable, more than in Nazareth, and more than on the Cross.
That is why I must love the Mass so! –our Mass, Jesus. (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 533)
* There he is: King of Kings and Lord of Lords, hidden in the Bread.
To this extreme has he humbled himself for love of you. (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 538)
* This Lord tells any soul who visits him in the Blessed Sacrament: “I am here to enrich you with graces; arise from your miseries. Hurry up; come to me; don’t be afraid of my majesty because it is subdued in this Sacrament to allay your fears and give you confidence.” (St Alphonsus de Liguori, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, 8)
Litany of Humility
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart. R. Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desired of being approved. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being slandered. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That in the opinion of the world others may increase and I may decrease. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Ullathorne, Humility.
2. Cf. E. Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, 2, 2.
3. Tamar (cf. Gen 38:1; 1 Chr 2:4), Rahab (Cf. Josh 2:6,17), Bathsheba (cf. 2 Sam 11:12,24), and Ruth (cf. Book of Ruth).
4. Cf. E. Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, 2, 2.
5. Cf. E. Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, 2, 2.
* At his Incarnation, our Lord, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, assumed a human nature –body and soul. Jesus received into his soul all that can be known by any created nature. He saw clearly with his human intelligence that his own human nature was something created.
Jesus’ human will, being perfect and unimpeded in its operations by any play of the passions, found no difficulty in conducting itself in a manner befitting its state: that of a created will that owes all to God. The Will of his Father was the rule of conduct to which Jesus unswervingly conformed.
Our Lord’s relations with his heavenly Father were characterized by the most profound humility, stamped with the profoundest reverence.
Reverence toward one’s Creator is essential in man’s dealings with God; such reverence was the great passion of our Lord’s life: “Zelus domus tuae comedit me”–”For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up” (Jn 2:17). While sin and ignorance found him ever compassionate and merciful, irreverence toward God roused him to stern and terrible anger, for he saw in it the subversion of the order of truth and of justice.
As reverence begets humility, so does irreverence nurture pride. “Humility is the just and truthful expression in our thought, sense, and conduct of our nature, our position and our dependence as the subjects of God; it is the order arising out of that subjection and dependence.”#1
This reverence toward God demands submission not only to God’s Will but also to God’s Providence. In his submission to the Providence of God, Jesus is the standard and exemplar of humility. He has given the highest possible expression of this virtue by accepting, without complaint, all the consequences that followed from his taking his place among fallen creatures.
Inspired by a love for us that reached beyond the limits of sacrifice, Jesus made, for the sake of our salvation, a deliberate choice in his entry into this world. What was that choice? He chose to be like a creature –though perfectly just and holy– among fallen creatures in a fallen world, to be a man among sinful men, and to submit to all the consequences flowing from such a condition. He could not renounce his personal holiness, he could not commit sin, but he accepted all the living conditions of a sinful man (cf. Phil 2:5-8).
Nevertheless, our Lord’s humility did not consist in this particular choice of his –that was dictated by infinite love, not by humility. Neither did his humility consist in the poverty, obscurity, and pain of his life on earth –a person may be in the most humble circumstances without being in the least bit humble. It consisted entirely in the inner disposition of his will toward all these things.
Having chosen the condition of a sinful creature, Jesus accepted whatever might befall him as a consequence of that choice; he did not rebel against God’s plan of salvation. This was his humility: not clinging to what was his by nature but to what was his by choice. By nature, in virtue both of his divine nature and his sinless earthly origin, he was not subject to mortality. By choice, he made his own the lot of fallen humanity.#2
* Brothers, we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride, and foolish anger. Let us fulfill what is written.... For Christ belongs to the humble and not to those who exalt themselves above His flock. The Lord Jesus Christ, having the scepter of God’s greatness, did not come into the world with pomp and arrogance, although he could have come thus. He came in a spirit of humility, as the Holy Spirit said of him: “I am a worm, not a man; the scorn of men, despised by people.” Dearly beloved, look at the example he gives us. If the Lord humbled himself to his extent, what should we do, who–through him–have placed ourselves under the influence of his grace? (St Clement of Rome, Epist. to the Cor., 13 and 16)
* Jesus lived for nine months in the virginal womb of Mary, concealing his divine attributes: “He emptied himself” (Phil 2:7).
Together with Mary and Joseph, Jesus practiced self-effacement by submitting to Caesar’s edict; by enduring the rude refusals they had to face, without a complaint: “There was no room for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7).
But above all, Jesus suffered humiliation by being the object of the ingratitude of men, who did not make a place for him in their hearts: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). (A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* He who is greater than the universe enclosed himself in a Virgin’s womb. (St John Chrysostom, Catena Aurea, 1, p. 437)
* In the genealogy of his Gospel, St Matthew included, among our Lord’s ancestors, four women who led less than virtuous lives.#3
These women are one sign among many others of God’s design to save all men. Born of sinners, Jesus came to take away the sins of all.
Our Lord did not refuse even a stained ancestry, so that his Church would not be ashamed of being composed of sinners. By mentioning sinful people among Christ’s ancestors, the Gospel shows that God’s ways are different from man’s. God will sometimes carry out his plan of salvation by means of people whose conduct has not been just. God saves us, sanctifies us, and chooses us to do good despite our sins and infidelities.
Jesus also showed that a stain in one’s lineage is not an obstacle for virtue, and that no one should boast of his patrician roots. (Cf. St Ambrose, Comment on the Gospel of St Luke, 3; St Jerome, Catena Aurea, 1, 45-46)
Humility at His Birth
* Jesus was born a poor infant, wrapped in swaddling clothes, placed in a manger, and laid upon a bit of straw. And this little Child is the Son of God, co-equal with the Father, uncreated Wisdom! (A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* Learn, o man, and acknowledge how far God has gone for you. Here, in Bethlehem, you have a teacher teaching without being able to speak; learn his lesson of humility. In paradise, you gave name to every kind of animal; here, your Creator has become a little child, unable to call even his own Mother. In that vast wood, you were lost by disobedience; in this narrow dwelling, he has become a mortal man to seek, by dying, you, who were dead. You, man, wanted to be like God, and perished; he, God, wanted to become a man, and saved you. Such was the outcome of human pride that it needed divine humility to be cured! (St Augustine, Sermon 183)
* Consider what is most beautiful and most noble on earth, what pleases the mind and the other faculties, and what delights the flesh and the senses. Consider the world, and the other worlds that shine in the night–the whole universe.
And this, along with all the satisfied follies of the heart, is worth nothing, is nothing and less than nothing, compared with this God of mine! –of yours! Infinite treasure, most beautiful pearl ... humbled, become a slave, reduced to nothingness in the form of a servant in the stable where he willed to be born ... in Joseph’s workshop, in his passion and in his ignominious death, and in the frenzy of Love–the Blessed Eucharist. (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 432 )
* Whoever makes himself one of our race enters into our condition. And this our Lord did. Having chosen to be like a sinful creature among sinful and imperfect creatures, he never for one single instant sought to emancipate himself from the consequences of that condition. Since that was his condition before God and man, he firmly abided in it and conducted himself accordingly.
When his life was sought by a powerful prince, he did not use his divine power, as he could have done, to escape the hatred of his enemy; he did simply what any human being would do: to find refuge in a foreign country. The poverty, powerlessness, want of influence accompanying his life left him without any other means of saving himself from death, except flight and trust in the guiding protection of God.
He was not embittered at the cruelty and wickedness of his enemy. For wrongdoing, injustice, tyranny and the persecution of the good are in the order of Providence.
He submitted meekly to all these because they were the consequences of the condition he had put himself in, and in this lies his humility. And in this he asks us to imitate him, while at the same time encouraging us by the thought that our souls can find rest and peace by imitating him.#4
* “You shall find,” says the angel, “the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.” How is it that only humility, that is , the Child, seems to have been mentioned by the angel, when in fact more than humility was to be found by the shepherds? Perhaps the angel emphasizes humility alone because, when the other angels fell through pride, he himself stood firm in his humility. Or perhaps because humility is a heavenly virtue and most adequate to the Divine Majesty.
But humility cannot be found alone, it is always found accompanied by many other graces and virtues, thus the Gospel describes later on: “They came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger.” Just as the infancy of the Savior is the example of humility, Mary is the example of purity and Joseph of justice.
When there is no humility, there is no purity, and no justice.
The impure man disgraces himself; the unjust man offends his neighbor; the proud man, who thinks himself great and important, dishonors God.
Humility reconciles us to God, makes us subject to him, pleasing to him; as the Blessed Virgin says: “He has regarded the humility of his handmaid.” (St Bernard, Sermon on Christmas Day, n. 2)
Jesus’ Life in Nazareth
* After his birth, Jesus was circumcised, like any ordinary Jewish boy. He had to flee to Egypt to escape from the hand of Herod, even though, with one word, Jesus could have reduced the wicked king to dust.
Jesus’ life at Nazareth was one of continued self-effacement. Hidden away in a small Galilean village, he at first helped his mother in her household duties, then he became an apprentice, a workman, and spent thirty years in obedience to two human beings. He, the Lord of the World, was known only as a carpenter, the son of a carpenter, and nothing more. (A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* Jesus came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them (Lk 2:51).
Christ, to whom the universe submits, becomes obedient to his own. (St Augustine, Sermon 51)
* Who was subject to whom? A God to men. God, I repeat, to whom the angels are subject, was subject to Mary. And not alone to Mary, but to Joseph also, because of Mary. Admire and revere both the one and the other, and choose which you admire the more, the most sweet deference of the Son or the sublime dignity of the Mother. That God should obey a woman is humility without compare; that a woman should have rule over God is a dignity without equal. (St Bernard, Homily on the Feast of the Holy Family)
* “Are you hurt for being abased by humility?” the Lord asks us. “Look at me; consider the examples I have given you, and you will see the greatness of this virtue.” (St John Chrysostom, Hom. on St Matthew, 38)
* Jesus, humble, did not do anything out of ostentation. (Theophilactus, Comment. on the Gospel of St Mark)
* We will never achieve true supernatural and human cheerfulness, real good humor, if we don’t really imitate Jesus; if we aren’t humble, as he was. (J. Escrivá, The Forge, n. 590)
The Public Life of Jesus
* Christ in his humility is the way to heaven. After forty days of penance in the desert our Lord was tempted by the devil. Jesus was hungry; he lowered himself to this level because this too was part of his humiliation. Christ, the Bread, was hungry, the Way was lost, our Medicine was wounded, and Life died. He was thirsty, he was weary, he slept; he was seized, beaten, and put to death.
This is His way: walk in humility if you want to reach eternal life. Christ as God is the land toward which we are going, Christ as man is the way to go there. To him we go; by him we go. Undivided from the Father, yet he came to us. Nursed at the breast, yet he holds the world in his hand. Laying in the manger, yet he sustains the angels in existence. God and Man; the same is God who is Man.
Here on earth he is destitute, poor. Having suffered in his lowliness, having died, and been buried, he has risen, ascended into heaven, and there he abides, sitting at the right hand of the Father. (St Augustine, Sermon 123)
* Jesus chose to be baptized in water by John, not to be washed of any sin but to manifest his great humility. For baptism certainly found nothing in him that needed to be washed away, just as death found nothing in him that needed to be punished. (St Augustine, Faith, Hope and Charity, 14)
* During his public life, Jesus practiced humility, making it compatible with his mission. He had to proclaim, by word and deeds, that he is the Son of God; yet, he did so in a discreet way, with sufficient clarity so as to reach the minds of men of good will, but not with such evidence as to force assent. His humility appeared in everything he did.
Jesus surrounded himself with apostles, ignorant and uncouth, little esteemed–eleven fishermen and a publican. He showed a marked preference for those whom the world either paid little attention to or despised: the poor, sinners, the afflicted, little children, those disowned by all. He had no place to lay his head.
His teaching was plain and simple, within the reach of all, and his parables were taken from ordinary life. He did not seek to elicit the admiration of men, but instead sought to instruct them and to touch their hearts.
Jesus’ miracles were rare occurrences. He performed them only to manifest his divine nature; thus, he often charged bystanders to tell no man. There was no studied austerity in his life; he ate like everyone else, attended a wedding feast at Cana, and was invited to some banquets.
Jesus shunned popularity, and did not hesitate to displease his disciples when it was necessary to do so. He escaped when the people wanted to make him a king.
As for his innermost sentiments, he lived in complete dependence upon his Father God. He spoke only to teach the doctrine of his Father, who sent him. He did not seek his own glory, but that of his Father; he came to earth for this cause.
The Lord of Creation became the servant of men: “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve” (Mt 20:28). (A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* Jesus wanted to be baptized, to recommend, by his humility, what was a necessity for us. (St Augustine, Sermon 51)
* We read in the Scripture: “The just will blossom like a lily” (Hos 14:6). But who is just if he is not humble?
If we are humble, we will also blossom like the lily and thrive eternally in the house of the Lord. We will be like Jesus, for he “will transform this lowly body of ours into copies of his glorious body” (Phil 3:21). Sacred Scripture does not say, “our body,” but “this lowly body of ours,” meaning that only the humble will be glorified and clothed with the marvelous whiteness of the lily.
We also read: “I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys” (Song of Songs 2:1).
The Lord, Jesus Christ, bowed down to a servant, St John, to be baptized; the Baptist tried to dissuade him. “Give in for now,” Jesus told him, “we must do this” (Mt 3:15). He confirmed that humility is the culmination of justice. Thus, the just person is humble; he is like a valley.
Let this be said to understand that Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Song of Songs, is the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. (St Bernard, Super Cantica, Serm. 47)
* See how humble our Jesus is: A donkey was his throne in Jerusalem! (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 606)
* Humility is one of the good ways to achieve interior peace. He has said so: “Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 607)
Jesus’ Passion and Death
* After the fall of man, sin conquered the world. Original sin turned the world into an unsupernatural world, one from which the divinity was banished. It had to be reconquered for the divine realm by our Lord Jesus Christ.
When he came to the world, Jesus faced an irreconcilable opposition from all its forces. He stood for the divine; the world stood for the anti-divine. From the first instant of his earthly existence, he was involved in conflict. It was the conflict of light against darkness, of truth against falsehood, of the redeeming God against unredeemed men. St Paul speaks of the kingdom of sin arrayed against the kingdom of justice. St John contrasts the two as darkness and light. In the psalms, reference is also made to this inevitable war: “Why have the Gentiles raged and the people desired vain things?” (Ps 2:1).
There could be only one outcome from this combat: Jesus’ conquest, though his humanity would undergo death in the struggle. If Jesus’ humanity once yielded to impatience or irritation, sin would have conquered; but no, that humanity stood firm unto death. Jesus conquered by suffering death.
Jesus died in so far as God could die, that is, in Jesus’ human nature. Our Lord’s death was no accident; it was a consequence of his life and teaching. He stood in a world arrayed in hostility against him. He was the only Divine Being in a world that was undivine. He was the only light in a world of darkness, and that world hated to be illuminated and therefore strove to extinguish the light. “And this is the judgment; because the light has come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil” (Jn 2:19).
There was no truce possible: “What fellowship hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14-15). Our Lord knew what was to be his fate if he chose to live his life according to the conditions of man. He resented nothing that happened to him, accepting all as the inevitable condition of his lot, neither striving to lift himself above it, nor using his divine power to escape it. This was his humility.
Jesus achieved the victory and secured the supremacy of the divine in the world, “blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. He has done away with it by nailing it to the Cross; despoiling the principalities and powers. He paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession” (Col 2:14-15).#5
* Jesus’ humility was even more apparent in his Passion. He, who knew no sin, suffered the penalty of the guilty.
He bore the crushing load of our sins in Gethsemane; betrayed by Judas, he had only friendly words for him; deserted by the apostles, he continued loving them. Arrested and bound like a common criminal, he cured Malchus. Slandered, he did not defend himself. In danger of death, he spoke only the truth. Treated like a fool by Herod, he kept silence. Rejected by the people in favor of Barabbas, he still suffered for their conversion. Condemned by Pilate, he kept his peace. Scourged, crowned with thorns, vilified, he accepted the heavy Cross.
Deprived of all heavenly comfort, deserted by his disciples, Jesus could say: “I am a worm, not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people” (Ps 22:7). “When he was insulted, he did not retaliate with insults; when he was tortured, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet 2:23). How then can we, who are so full of guilt, ever complain, even if we were unjustly accused? (Cf. A. Tanqueray, The Spiritual Life, 1141)
* Jesus interceded for our sins as if they were his own. When a man commits a heinous crime, his friends and relatives disavow him and desert him to avoid being implicated in the crime. If there is a father or friend willing to help, he always begins repudiating the evil deed and showing himself free from guilt and not connected with the crime.
But our merciful Lord, lover of our souls, took all the blame of our sins upon himself, and covered his face with shame. He acknowledged and recognized us before the tribunal of God, not only as his friends and relatives, but as his brothers and sons, and even as members of his own Body–the Church– of which he is the Head.
Jesus not only interceded for our forgiveness, but also offered himself to pay the penalty that we deserved, as if he were the malefactor.
Yet the sorrows of our Lord could have been lesser, had they not been increased by our ingratitude and neglect to return his love. (L. de la Palma, History of the Sacred Passion, 8)
* Among the calumnies and accusations of false witnesses, our Lord kept silence before the Sanhedrin as if they were not speaking of him. His first reply had been ill-received; it was manifest that the judges would not listen to the truth. The court was a tribunal only in appearance, in truth a seat of violence and a robbers’ den. Jesus sought to benefit all the absent and all to come after him by keeping silence and giving an admirable example of meekness and humility.
He taught us that silence gives perfection and beauty to patience, and that it is great to persevere and suffer in silence in the midst of injuries, hatred, and insults; the more false and full of prejudices the accusation is, the greater the merit gained. (L. de la Palma, History of the Sacred Passion, 12)
* “Jesus remained silent.”–Iesus autem tacebat. Why do you speak, to console yourself or to explain yourself?
Say nothing. Seek joy in contempt; you’ll always receive less contempt than you deserve. Can you, by any chance, ask, Quid enim mali feci? –”What evil have I done?” (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 671)
* The Creator of the world, offended by man, offered his own Blood as compensation for man’s sins. From the day of his birth in Bethlehem until the end of his Passion, this mystery of our salvation was largely accomplished by his humility. (St Leo the Great, Sermon 72, On the Lord’s Ascension)
* The devil’s pride was the cause of our ruin; God’s humility, the foundation of our redemption. (St Gregory the Great, Regula Pastoralis, 3, 18)
* Are you looking for an example of humility? Look at the Man on the Cross. Being God, he wanted to be judged under the power of Pontius Pilate, and to die. (St Thomas of Aquinas, On the Creed, 6, 1)
* Let the humble know that our Redeemer “humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a Cross” (Phil 2:8); let the proud know that this is written of their leader, the devil: “He is king over all proud beasts” (Job 41:26). The origin of our ruin was the pride of the devil; the source of our redemption was the humility of God.
Though created by God as all other creatures, our enemy wanted to excel above all; our Redeemer, the greatest among all, deigned to become the least among all. Let the humble know that the more they lower themselves, the more they resemble God. Let the proud know that the more they extol themselves, the faster they crash to the ground like the apostate angel.
What can be worse than pride? The higher the proud raises himself, the further he falls from the heights of true sublimity. What can be more glorious than humility? The lower the humble sinks, the closer he becomes to his Creator, who dwells in the highest. (St Gregory the Great, Past., III, Adm. XVIII)
In the Eucharist, Jesus’ Divine Nature Is Veiled
* The humility of Jesus was manifest in Bethlehem, in Nazareth, and on Calvary. Yet, our Lord undergoes still more humiliation and more self‑abasement in the most sacred host; more than in the stable, more than in Nazareth, and more than on the Cross.
That is why I must love the Mass so! –our Mass, Jesus. (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 533)
* There he is: King of Kings and Lord of Lords, hidden in the Bread.
To this extreme has he humbled himself for love of you. (J. Escrivá, The Way, n. 538)
* This Lord tells any soul who visits him in the Blessed Sacrament: “I am here to enrich you with graces; arise from your miseries. Hurry up; come to me; don’t be afraid of my majesty because it is subdued in this Sacrament to allay your fears and give you confidence.” (St Alphonsus de Liguori, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, 8)
Litany of Humility
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart. R. Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desired of being approved. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being slandered. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected. R. Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That in the opinion of the world others may increase and I may decrease. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should. R. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Ullathorne, Humility.
2. Cf. E. Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, 2, 2.
3. Tamar (cf. Gen 38:1; 1 Chr 2:4), Rahab (Cf. Josh 2:6,17), Bathsheba (cf. 2 Sam 11:12,24), and Ruth (cf. Book of Ruth).
4. Cf. E. Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, 2, 2.
5. Cf. E. Leen, In the Likeness of Christ, 2, 2.