During my Sunday homily, about a month ago, I reflected upon one of my favorite passages from the poet Dante—from the second volume of his Divine Comedy—the purgatorio. After making his way through the inferno, where he encounters the souls of the damned, Dante must make his way up the mountain of purgatory. And there he meets the souls, like himself, still in need of purification before they can enter heaven.
In purgatory, the first group of souls Dante meets are those needing to be purified from the sin of pride. And these souls were undergoing a very unique type of purification—a remedy for their pride. Do you remember what it was? The souls of the prideful humbled themselves by carrying heavy weights on their backs, bowed down to the earth, and through prayer—particularly by praying the Our Father.
They refused to bow down to God as they should, in life, and they refused to pray as they should, so now, before entering heaven, they carried those heavy weights to teach them to humbly bow down to God as they should. And they prayed the Our Father, over and over, so that they could internalize that beautiful prayer of humble trust and surrender to the Will of God.
Humility. Humility is at the heart of our readings this sunday. In the first reading, the great Old Testament teacher, Sirach, taught his young students, “conduct your affairs with humility”…the greater you are, the more you need to humble yourself.
Sirach here is certainly foreshadowing the teachings of Jesus. In the Gospel, Jesus told a parable all about humility: take the lowest place at the banquet, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted".
Humility. It is to be one of the defining characteristics of our lives as Christians, because it was defining characteristic of Jesus himself. Though he was God, Jesus “humbled Himself” by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
His humility is seen throughout his public ministry; Jesus did not have a house of his own. While in Capernaum, he stayed in the house of Simon Peter. He surrounded himself not with the rich and powerful, but poor fishermen. He associated with public sinners, and ministered not primarily to the wealthy, but those who could not repay him: the poor, the sick, the lame, and the demon possessed.
So many of his teachings are about humility: “blessed are the poor in spirit” are the opening words of his great sermon. In other words, if you wish to become great in the eyes of God, you must become completely dependent upon God.
Jesus tells stories highlighting examples of humility like that of the tax collector and the pharisee. It is the tax collector who humbly admits himself to be a sinner in need of God who is exalted by Jesus, and not the supposed religious expert who thought he was doing everything right in his own eyes.
When his disciples argued about which one of them would be the greatest, Jesus rebukes them, saying, “The kings of the Gentiles lord their power over their subjects … But it must not be so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.”
Humility. St. Augustine, doctor of the Church, whose feast was this last week on August 28 said, “If you should ask me what are the three most important virtues, I would tell you they are humility, humility, and humility…if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are meaningless.”
St. John Vianney said: “humility is to the various virtues what the chain is to a rosary. Take away the chain and the beads are scattered; remove humility, and all the virtues vanish.”
Humility is the foundation for the life of holiness and for all the virtues, which is why humility, “poverty of spirit” is listed as the first of the beatitudes.
So what does it mean to “conduct your affairs with humility” as Sirach teaches? Well, what affairs? Humility is needed in our family lives, towards your spouse, toward your children, toward your parents, towards your bishop, towards your fellow parishioners. It is needed in your business decisions, toward strangers, toward cashiers and waitresses, and slow bank tellers when you are in a hurry.
Humility. It’s the recognition that I am not more important than anyone else. It means putting others’ needs before our own, even when we’re tired or inconvenienced. It means asking, “How can I serve?” rather than “What do I get out of this?”
Humility does NOT mean simply having a low-open of yourself, or inflicting an inferiority complex on yourself. As C.S. Lewis famously observed, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” Do you see the difference?
We spend an awful lot of time and energy thinking about ourselves, comparing ourselves to others, and we are sadder for it. Constantly worrying about social standing leads to social anxiety. Constantly focusing on what others have leads to envy and resentment, which makes us bitter.
Humility on the other hand, frees us from self-preoccupation, from the pride which poisons joy.
A humble person understands that their life, abilities, opportunities, and even their faith are gifts from God, not entitlements or achievements of their own making. And in recognition that God is the source of our blessings, the response of the humble heart is gratitude. A humble heart, is a grateful heart.
Humility isn’t easy. If it was, the word of God wouldn’t spend so much time teaching and commanding it. Humility takes effort. Cultivating gratitude over envy, shifting from self-preoccupation to service, takes real effort. But this is the Way. This is the Way of Christ. Without taking humility seriously, we will never progress very far in the spiritual life on earth, and we are likely setting ourselves up for a very very long and uncomfortable purgatory.
So, let’s ask the Lord to help us to grow in this most Christ-like of virtues, after all, he wants us to grow in it. We’ll certainly be happier for it, and holy, too, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment