Some Random Thoughts On Humility

[arfink]

The other day at our parish's young adults group meeting we had a priest (and old friend of mine from seminary) come by and talk just a little bit about humility. It was really insightful so I thought I'd share them with you.

Basically, humility as a practice and way of life was something that didn't start to become the focus of Christians until after the legalization of Christianity. I had never thought about it before, but the Church had to kinda come to grips with what it meant to be a follower of Christ when you didn't have angry Romans to testify before, and then get yourself martyred. I don't mean to make light of the martyrs, but the early witness of the Church was focused around holiness in the face of persecution. As it should have been.

So spiritual practices really had to change pretty radically when the Roman's weren't going around oppressing and killing all the Christians, and that time period is exactly when you began to see the first inklings of monasticism rise up, with the desert fathers and so on. And with them came increased attention to humility. They discovered that Christ's holiness was not only linked to his suffering and death, but was even more fundamentally linked to his humility. It was humility that led Him to sacrifice himself for us, and to become human in the first place. So of course, as an alternative to the martyrdom they couldn't have, they chose humility. I thought that historical perspective was super razzle dazzle, and something I had never really heard about before.

Humility was also considered by the early monastic fathers as being the only one of the virtues that is fundamentally Christian, and the one that makes all the rest of the virtues actually holy, instead of just self-serving. Every other virtue had it's pagan equivalent, but the pagan's virtue was to make themselves look good and be successful. Humility alone subverts this attitude, pointing all of our virtues away from ourselves and towards God. Later on in the Renaissance, when the old pagan notions of virtue were coming back into vogue, St. Augustine said the same thing again; "Humility is practically the only Christian discipline."

Our speaker also mentioned how humility is broken into two component parts, and so many people fail in humility because they only accept one half of it.

The first half is the emptying of self most of us are familiar with. This is the emptying of self, the acknowledging of our own brokenness and inability to rescue ourselves. But if we only keep this part, we despair. Proper humility then has a second part: after emptying ourselves we must be filled with Christ and trust in his mercy and power. Of course, on the other hand if we keep only the second part then we become self-righteous like the Pharisees.

"It is crucially important not to despair that we are not what we ought to be. Of course, your sin is an evil thing, but if you say, 'there is the place where my condemnation lies but still more is that place where God's mercy lives,' then you are repentant and God receives your repentance as he receives the repentance of the prodigal son... [b]Whosoever sins but does not despair, lowers himself beneath all other creatures.[/b] He dares not condemn of blame any person. Rather, he marvels at the love of God for humanity and gives thanks to his Benefactor. If he does not follow the devil who under the power of sin, pushes him toward despair, then his lot is cast with God. He posesses within himself the power of grace, patience and fear of the Lord... he does not judge lest he be judged."

-St. Peter of Damascus

It was very enlightening. I had never really thought about humility that way, but it totally makes sense to me.

[Ed Normile]

Arfink, thank you for an insightful catholic topic.

ed

[To Jesus Through Mary]

Wow! That is really amazing. With Ed, thank you for posting that.

[quote]Humility alone subverts this attitude, pointing all of our virtues away from ourselves and towards God[/quote]

Profound insight.

[arfink]

[quote name='To Jesus Through Mary' timestamp='1345864911' post='2473911']
Wow! That is really amazing. With Ed, thank you for posting that.



Profound insight.
[/quote]

Those early church fathers were pretty brilliant guys. Not to mention holy.

[AnneLine]

Beautiful insight, ARFink. I've been reading Fr. christopher Jamison's Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life, and one of his focuses is Humility; exceptionally well written and thoughtful. You can find some of it through this link to the 'look' at the book on-line....

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Sanctuary-Monastic-Steps-Everyday/dp/0814631681"]http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Sanctuary-Monastic-Steps-Everyday/dp/0814631681[/url]

I really liked what Fr. Christopher had to say about one of the things about humility is that we must teach ourselves to listen carefully to others because their insights and sensibilities are just as important as our own... and that sometimes what someone else is struggling with will give me insights into what I need to focus on... or might give me the tool I would not get on my own. Wow. Powerful.....

[morostheos]

Thanks for sharing that! Those are some great thoughts on humility and good topics for prayer and reflection.

Early church fathers:

[Clare~Therese]

I never quite looked at in that way, I think. But it makes sense.

[arfink]

Favorite line from that night:

"What in heck are you supposed to do when you suddenly don't have angry Romans trying to kill you every day?"

[MissyP89]

Bump. This deserves it.

[arfink]

I'd love to write more on this topic. I should dig through my notes and compose something front-page worthy for Team Orthodoxy perhaps.

[tinytherese]

[quote name='arfink' timestamp='1345923329' post='2474166']
Favorite line from that night:

"What in heck are you supposed to do when you suddenly don't have angry Romans trying to kill you every day?"
[/quote]

That reminded me of this.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso[/url]

[Adrestia]

This reminds me of a theme from a book I read years ago. I lost it in hurricane Ike, so I'm going to try to paraphrase from memory. The book was The [i]Beatitudes[/i]: [i]Soundings[/i] in [i]Christian Traditions[/i] by Simon Tugwell.

He wrote that God is like a physician-father. When a son trips over a fallen branch, He will tend to the bruise, but He will also move the branch so that His other sons will not hurt themselves. The point was that the same healing grace that heals one after sin also prevents one from falling into sin. I think he was addressing people who feel as if their ability to avoid certain sins made them better Christians than those who repented from those same sins. With humility, those who had avoided the sin would still give their thanks to God like their brothers who were repenting.

[arfink]

I had another random thought on humility concerning confession, so I thought I would add it here:

I have recently begun to experience some big changes in my spiritual life. I'm not turning to mortal sin any more. I have not been conscious of serious sin in my life for some time now. It's very different from what always used to be the norm, as much as any sin could be considered normal anyway.

Now I'm going to have to humble myself even more, to be able to confess smaller sins. It's harder for me to admit I am wrong in these smaller matters, harder to surrender my will in these smaller ways. But the truly humble spirit will eventually turn over to God every tiny care, concern, and detail, leaving Him in complete control. Humility makes this possible.

[TheUbiquitous]

Related, a great spiritual reading written many, many moons ago ...


[center][size=6][size=7]HUMILITY OF THE HEART[/size]
Thoughts and Sentiments on Humility[/size][/center]

[indent=1]IN Paradise there are many Saints who never gave alms on earth: their poverty justified them. There are many Saints who never mortified their bodies by fasting, or wearing hair shirts: their bodily infirmities excused them. There are many Saints too who were not virgins: their vocation was otherwise. But in Paradise there is no Saint who was not humble.

1. God banished Angels from Heaven for their pride; therefore how can we pretend to enter therein, if we do not keep ourselves in a state of humility? Without humility, says St. Peter Damian, [Serm. 45] not even the Virgin Mary herself with her incomparable virginity could have entered into the glory of Christ, and we ought to be convinced of this truth that, though destitute of some of the other virtues, we may yet be saved, but never without humility. There are people who flatter themselves that they have done much by preserving unsullied chastity, and truly chastity is a beautiful adornment; but as the angelic St. Thomas says: "Speaking absolutely, humility excels virginity." [4 dist. qu. xxxiii, art. 3 ad 6; et 22, qu. clxi, art. 5]

We often study diligently to guard against and correct ourselves of the vices of concupiscence which belong to a sensual and animal nature, and this inward conflict which the body wages [i]adversus carnem[/i] [Gal. 5,17] is truly a spectacle worthy of God and of His Angels. But, alas, how rarely do we use this diligence and caution to conquer spiritual vices, of which pride is the first and the greatest of all, and which, sufficed of itself to transform an Angel into a demon!

[url="http://www.basilica.org/pages/ebooks/Fr.%20Cajetan%20Mary%20da%20Bergamo-Humility%20of%20Heart.html"][i](Continue reading ...)[/i][/url][/indent]

Edited August 31, 2012 by TheUbiquitous

[To Jesus Through Mary]

Arfink- beautiful! I am so edified to see how God is working in your life. That is a huge step. I remember when I made my first Confession without mortal sin. Perhaps it might even behoove you to speak with a Spiritual Director because you would be surprised how much of a change not only your spiritual life takes, but the method of which the enemy will tempt you. (St Ignatius talks about this in his discernment of spirits) I will add you to my prayer list. May Our Lady continue to guide you!!!

[quote name='TheUbiquitous' timestamp='1346387763' post='2476598']
[indent=1]IN Paradise there are many Saints who never gave alms on earth: their poverty justified them. There are many Saints who never mortified their bodies by fasting, or wearing hair shirts: their bodily infirmities excused them. There are many Saints too who were not virgins: their vocation was otherwise. But in Paradise there is no Saint who was not humble.[/indent]
[/quote]

So beautiful, so true.