Humility

[blovedwolfofgod]

I decided to write down my reflection on humility.I brought it to the Word section for a theological critique. A number of those who prophesy at places I go have said something about me and the gift of wisdom being strong, so I am trying to exercise it... (ironic for my topic Im posting). Anyway, so please critique me.

(Oh, and for the most part, good is in reference to acts that are outside of the self; selfless acts)

Humility

The wisdom of the world is foolishness, though to the world, the wisdom of humility is foolishness. We are called to humility and service to reach heaven. However, humility is a difficult virtue. First of all, humility is contradictory to the nature of man because it is fallen. It is natural for men to call attention to their accomplishments, but the Lord says if a man does something that he should do it in secret so that the Father who sees in secret will reward in heaven. This type of behavior would be an example of humility and a good way of defeating pride before it grows too strong. Taking credit and recieving rewards and the acclamations of men can inflate the ego and only further tie a man to the world. (For this reason he should do good in secret where possible.) A man that does something and first gives glory to God, thanking Him for what he has been allowed to do, is giving proper credit where it is due. No act of virtue is possible without the grace of God. As fallen beings, our flesh has overcome and poisoned our spirits. Men are so enslaved by sin and concupiscience is so strong that no virtue exists without God's grace. However, this grace is available to all men. It is called actual or natural/common grace. Therefore, no good action is commited by man naturally. That man must first take hold of the common grace that is offered in order to execute anything outside of himself or anything that is virtuous.

So what claim does a man have to any good works? Is there a legitimate claim to be made for any act of virtue? I suppose the only thing that could possibly claimed by a person is that they assented to commit an act of virtue. But even there, the will is only able to assent to this because of a grace of God. So can the assent even be claimed? I would say even that cannot be properly laid claim to and one should give glory to God for having a will that is simply able to choose virtue when given the ability to commit it. No man is forced to do good just as, thanks to common grace, no man is forced to do evil should he decide he does not want to. But I do not believe the virtuous action that was committed can be claimed by a person, at least not justly.

Realizing that this grace is what permits virtue and glorifying God for every good deed is a practice of humility, while claiming good deeds for oneself is a practice of pride. Now pride is the cheif of vices. Pride made Lucifer fall. The first act of defiance against God was an act of pride. The first sin of man was an act of pride for we believed that the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil would make us "like God." Because a powerful angel makes an equally powerful demon, humility would be the most powerful virtue because pride is the most powerful vice. Humility is not above charity though, because charity is love and humility is a characteristic of love. In that same vein sin is hate and pride is a characteristic of sin and hate.

Like all virtues, humility is a great gift of God. Service in humility is an imitation of Christ. God calls all who follow to acknowledge their weakness. Paul writes that in weakness, power is made perfect. Through an acknowlegement of our weakness we can be made strong. But acknowledgement is only the first step. Love has both a noun and a verb form. The noun form names the idea, the verb form gives it an action to perform. There is love(noun) and charity(verb). And in order to be complete, the idea needs both forms.

Now, here I may be a little off... feel free to correct me

Humility is an attribute of love and also has two parts. There is humility(noun) and service(action). To serve is to do something that is outside of self for the benefit of another (in this context). So therefore, in order to be humble, one must acknowledge their weakness and then serve God in order for power to be made perfect. This would be an intellectual acknowledgement and then an act of the will, like prayer. This weakness would serve to bring us closer to God and the closer we grow to God, the more of a capacity for humility we will have. And this would also bring us closer to acting with more perfect charity.

Thoughts?

Edited December 6, 2005 by blovedwolfofgod

[journeyman]

sent you a PM

[blovedwolfofgod]

Thank you. It turns out there was a lot I didnt think about. I will certainly read what you sent me and then resubmit my thoughts when I redo them.

[phatcatholic]

i have a problem with this paragraph, b/c of what it potentially implies:
[quote]So what claim does a man have to any good works? Is there a legitimate claim to be made for any act of virtue? I suppose the only thing that could possibly claimed by a person is that they assented to commit an act of virtue. But even there, the will is only able to assent to this because of a grace of God. So can the assent even be claimed? I would say even that cannot be properly laid claim to and one should give glory to God for having a will that is simply able to choose virtue when given the ability to commit it. No man is forced to do good just as, thanks to common grace, no man is forced to do evil should he decide he does not want to. But I do not believe the virtuous action that was committed can be claimed by a person, at least not justly.[/quote]
i think a more precise way to phrase this is to say that we can claim good works in the sense that we acknowledge that a good work is both the grace of God compelling us to do good and the free will of man choosing to be compelled. there is a part of every good work that is truly and naturally man's. so, in this sense, man can "claim" a good work. however, he CANNOT claim a good work, if by that we mean "take credit for it" or "boast of it." this is b/c, w/o the grace of God that compelled us to do the good work, it would not have been meritorious in any way. God's contribution is integral to every good work, and i say much much more involved in it than our free will decision. God can do good works without us. but, we can't do good works without him. so, in that sense, we can't "claim" our good works.

these two senses are worth drawing out and i think the distinction will make your thoughts more theologically precise.

pax christi,
phatcatholic

[blovedwolfofgod]

actually, that was what i meant. by claim, i meant take credit for. of course the man does perform the action, but give credit where it is do.

I will rework it to make the thought more clear. Thanks for pointing that out!