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In our Gospel (Luke 14:1, 7-14) Jesus attends meal at the “home of
one of the leading Pharisees.” We are told that Jesus was “observing him
carefully.” Jesus tells this parable because he noticed “how they were choosing
the places of honor at the table.”
In Jewish culture a high value was placed on
notions of honor and shame. At the time of Jesus, it seems social dignity was
not based one’s age, but one’s social standing. Those with the highest social standing
would be seated nearest to the host. The parable assumes a certain freedom to
choose a seat. Those of higher social standing would think it was their right
to sit near the host. This choice reveals something about the heart of the one
making this choice. Those who seated themselves closer to the host reveal a
desire to exalt themselves and to be noticed by others. Such behavior is not
consistent with the values of the kingdom. Instead, in imitation of our Lord we
should desire to be a servant and to take the lowest place.
As Jesus will say later in the Gospel,
“For which is the greater, one who sits at table, or one who
serves? Is it not the one who sits at table? But I am among you as one who
serves” (Luke 22:27).
Jesus summarizes, “For every one who exalts
himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk
14:11).
Like many other passages of scripture, this
parable promotes the virtue of humility or restraining
ourselves from aiming at great things against the workings of
right reason.
In a culture which glorifies self-esteem, and a
world which lauds those who pursue the dream of fame, power
and financial gain, is it reasonable to consider yourself lowly and worthless?
Or even further to live your life in a way which refrains from things
which are exalted, from ambition, and from the desire for a high position in
the world?
At the very least such a life is very
counterintuitive. We might add to this the fear that a life of humility will
not lead to happiness. Yet, how many of us have met people who have achieved
fame and riches, who in modern parlance are “living the life,” yet we are quick
to recognize they are also the unhappiest people we have ever met?
A virtue is a disposition to act a certain way.
For Christians, the cardinal virtues of temperance, justice, prudence, and
fortitude are enlivened by the supernatural virtues of faith, hope and charity.
The virtue of humility is a kind of helping virtue related to hope.
The basic idea of humility would seem to be to
view yourself as lowly and worthless. This can occur involuntarily
when one is cast down or demoted by another, as a punishment. This
occurs in Jesus’ parable when the presumptuous person is moved to a lower
place. The virtue of humility can also be a voluntary act. We can reflect on
our own failings, and assume the lowest place in response. St. Thomas gives the
basic definition for the virtue of humility, as conveying the
notion of a praiseworthy self-abasement to the lowest place.” (STh., II-II
q.161 a.1 ad 2).
Humility moderates the actions of our passions
or emotional desires in relation to the good. We can experience both things
which are attractive to our appetite causing us to hope, and things
which repel our passions because of the difficulty in obtaining them, which may
cause despair. (STh., II-II q. 161).
There are actually two virtues at work in relation to our desire for the good: humility and magnanimity.
St. Thomas notes, “Humility restrains the appetite from aiming at great things against right reason: while magnanimity urges the mind to great things in accord with right reason.” Humility is a moderating and restraining moral virtue, while magnanimity is moral virtue which strengthens it and urges it on.
Yet how do we know if we are thinking rightly
about these things? What constitutes the use of “right reason”? Does the requirement of humility to view yourself as lowly
and worthless, cause us to abandon our intuitions toward a healthy
self-esteem.
The correct use of this virtue would not be to
imitate a garden worm crawling in the dirt! St. Teresa in her, Interior
Castle, describes us as miserable worms[i] who are clearly unworthy
of the greatness God has bestowed upon us. She has in mind, however,
caterpillars who later transform into butterflies! Yes, we remain unworthy.
Even though we truly are unworthy, we are also children of God who
receive his gifts. Both of these are true at the same time.
St. Thomas urges us to use reason to consider
all of our strengths and weaknesses and to consider their true origin. We can
observes what God has given us, and what we have contributed. (Summa Theol.,
II-II, q. 161, a. 8, corp.)
On God’s side of the equation are our creation
as rational beings, our supernaturalization by grace, and our redemption, but
unfortunately on our side is only our sin and deficiencies. The source of all our
excellence and glory is God. The truth is, if we are stripped of God’s divine
plumage, what is left? We have received everything as a gift, even life
itself.
How should we respond to this?
First we need to acknowledge that this is true,
and then we need to employ this truth as a practical principle in daily life.
We must be willing to remain in the place God has allotted to us in his divine
providence, and then to diligently make use of the talents God has bestowed
upon us. Notice that the adverb humbly could be added to these
actions. To humbly acknowledge, to humbly employ…
The essence of true humility is docility and
the subjection of our will to divine Providence. It
fundamentally involves a type of self-knowledge, concerning who we
are, and the source of all our goodness. St. Josemaría Escrivá notes,
“Self-knowledge leads us by the hand, as it were, to humility.” (The Way,
60). Humility restrains our soul from either exceeding or falling below the
measure of natural and supernatural gifts which God has bestowed upon us.
Humility is the moderate and reasonable seeking
of one's own excellence. It would be false humility to not acknowledge the
gifts and talents God has given us. While we must
truthfully acknowledge our natural and supernatural strengths, we also
remain aware that we will always remain unworthy and that God is
the source of all our goodness.
This leads to a full definition; “Humility is
the moral virtue by which a person, considering his deficiency, holds himself
to what is low according to his measure, out of subjection to God.”[v]
It is fairly easy to see
how the process of gaining humility leads to an awareness of personal sin (CCC
1848) brought about through the prior work of the Holy Spirit (John Paul II,
DeV 31 § 2) and a new saving awareness of the gift of redemption that God has
offered us. In fact this is a prerequisite for conversion. In
the National Directory of Catechesis our bishops note
that conversion is,
“the
acceptance of a personal relationship with Christ, a sincere adherence to him,
and a willingness to conform one's life to his. Conversion to Christ involves
making a genuine commitment to him and a personal decision to follow him as his
disciple” (NDC, p. 46).
Clearly conversion is most fundamentally about
the subjection of our heart, our desires and our will to God.
It is a new awareness and reverence for God in our life. It
is a genuine commitment to God and a personal decision to follow Jesus
as his disciple. It leads to friendship with God.
It is these notions of subjection to God and reverence
for God which leads many saints to see the virtue of humility as the
gateway, along with detachment from earthly things, to the interior life.
St. Teresa calls humility the ointment
of our souls,
“But as we have not yet arrived at this point,
let us (as I said) acquire humility, sisters, for this is the ointment of our
souls; and if we possess this virtue, the physician, who is God, will come and
heal us, though he may delay a little.”[vi]
St. Teresa notes that we cannot advance in
the interior life without humility. “Humility is
that virtue by which our Lord suffers Himself to be overcome, and to grant us
whatever we desire of Him. The first mark by which you may discover whether you
possess this virtue is, to think yourselves unworthy of these favors and
delights from our Lord…”[vii]
Humility does not come to us in a vacuum. The
journey begins with a relationship with God. We cannot advance without spending
time with him. There is a kind of prior assumption to all the literature on
growth in the interior life. Whether they are the Desert Fathers,
or the early Franciscans, or the monks at the Abbey of St. Victor, it was taken
for granted that time was being spent in personal prayer and meditation on the
Sacred Scripture. This was for the novice. It was the beginning.
If humility is the pearl of great price, the one
thing we need more than all else in our walk with the Lord, then each one of us
should examine our hearts. I don’t know about you but as I look within my own
soul, I have a long journey ahead.
Recently the Church canonized, St. Josemaría
Escrivá. During his lifetime he wrote a very powerful Examination of
Conscience for Humility which is worth praying through.
An
Examination of Conscience for Humility
St.
Josemaría Escrivá, The Furrow, 609
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, even the
ground you are treading on or 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...
[i] Saint Teresa of
Ávila and John Dalton, The Interior Castle (London: T. Jones,
1852), 3, 118, 120.
[ii] Fr. Sebastian
Carlson, OP, “The Virtue of Humility” The Thomist, April, 1944 Vol.
VII, No.2, p. 137.
[iii] Ibid., p. 140.
[iv] Ibid., p. 150
[v] Idid., p 152.
[vi] Saint Teresa of
Ávila and John Dalton, The Interior Castle (London: T. Jones,
1852), p. 35.
[vii] Ibid., p. 36.
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