Loving A Hidden God

The Clarity of Humility

My dear Dioscorus: There is no way of coming to the truth except through the way laid out for us by Christ. This way is first of all the way of humility and secondly it is the way of humility and thirdly it is the way of humility. Indeed, however many times you ask me, I will give the same answer. And I do this, not because there are no other important good acts to perform, but because if humility does not precede and accompany and follow every good work we do, if it is not set before us to look upon and beside us to lean upon and behind us to fence us in, pride will wrench from our hearts the goodness of our virtuous acts even as we are in the midst of savoring the satisfying feeling from doing them. It is certainly true that we must fear the wounds from other vices, but pride must be feared even in our acts of virtue, actions which truly merit praise but which may be defiled by the very desire it.

Letter 118, 3.22

The blindness of pride which causes humans to pretend to be better and stronger and smarter than they really are, is somewhat pitiful in this life but is disastrous for eternity. As Augustine often says, we cannot get through the narrow gate to heaven if we are swollen with self-importance. The more we try to force ourselves in, perhaps believing that it is our proper place and that all other residents (including God) are aliens, the more swollen our head becomes through the irritation of rubbing against the sides of the narrow gate. (Sermon 142, 5) The swelling and the darkness caused by our pride, must be cured in someway before we can move on in this life and successfully enter through the narrow gate to heaven, and the only remedy is the medicine of humility. As Augustine told his people:

When you are proud, you are swollen. This isn't genuine greatness, but a disease. Do you want to be rid of the disease, do you want to be rid of the swelling? Drink the cup of humility. It has been prepared for you by the God who came to you in humility. This Divine Doctor drank it first, not because he needed it, but in order to overcome his patient's reluctance.

Sermon 159B, 13

In the darkness that is created by our proud blindness we need some light-giving medicine and the only healing medicine that will work is the clarity of humility.

It may seem strange to talk about the "clarity" of humility, but it really is an appropriate term. Under humility's somewhat harsh light we begin to see the truth about our condition and about ourselves. Through its illumination we recognize that we are indeed in a dark period, a period of transition where the next step is not yet very clear. Through humility we come to see ourselves as we really are, not God-Almighty but ordinary creatures with limited powers of knowledge and choice. We face up to the fact that often we are not quite sure what to do next and that sometimes we are afraid to do anything at all lest a change disrupt the accustomed routine of life. Through the clarity of humility we may even come to accept the humbling fact that in our darkness we need the help of others.

When we come to accept our weaknesses as well as our strengths, we imitate the great apostle Peter and begin to understand the advice he gave to his friends:

In our human relations, we must clothe ourselves with humility, because God "is stern with the arrogant but to the humble he shows kindness". We must bow humbly under God's right hand so that he may lift us high. We must cast all our cares on him because he cares for us.

1 Peter 5:5b-7

I believe that my change of the personal pronouns (from "you" to "us") in the passage is warranted because Peter would admit that he needed to be "clothed in humility" as much as any of us. Certainly he had his moments of darkness, moments when he was not sure what he should do next. For example, he plunged into the stormy sea of Galilee to reach the beckoning Christ but then began to sink when his confidence disappeared. He momentarily stood up for Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, but then denied him three times when challenged. He (along with the rest of the apostles) waited in the darkness of the upper room after the crucifixion, not quite knowing what to do. One of their band (Judas) had already committed suicide and others (the Emmaus disciples) had begun their despairing journey back to their former lives. But Peter and a few others simply waited in the darkness caused by their conviction that the Son of God was dead.

Even at the very end of his life Peter experienced darkness. There is a tradition that in his last days Peter tried to flee his execution only to be met on the road from Rome by Jesus asking:

Quo Vadis? Where are you going?

It was not the first time that Peter faced that question. And it was not the first time that in the midst of his confusion he answered:

Lord, where shall I go? You have the words of everlasting life?

This was the declaration of a truly humble man, a man who had come to realize that in the midst of his darkness he needed something or someone to give him direction.

Augustine suggests that humility was the reason why Christ chose fishermen like Peter to be the first preachers of the gospel. Unlike some with greater credentials, they had no temptation to be proud. They were humble. They were not filled up with themselves. They were experienced in personal failure. They were accustomed to casting their nets and catching nothing. They recognized that their life depended on many factors beyond their control. In humility they had "emptied themselves" and thus there was much room for the grace that God wished to pour into them. (Sermon 87, 12).

The apostles were ultimately saved through their charity but the root of such charity was humility. Through this virtue they were able to accept their place in the scheme of things. They were able to accept the glory and the limitations of being a human being. They exemplified Augustine's advice to his friends:

God, a divine being, became a human being; you, a human being, must realize that you are merely human. See that you are merely human and yet your are worth so much that on your account God became human. But don't make that a source of your pride; he did it out of mercy.

Sermon 341A, 1

We are striving for great things; let us lay hold of little things and we shall be great. Do you wish to lay hold of the loftiness of God? First catch hold of God's lowliness. When you have caught hold of Christ's humility, you start rising up with him.

Sermon 117, 17.

Don't go seeking God either in the depths of caves or on the high reaches of the mountains or on mountains. Have lowliness in your heart, and God will raise you up to as high an altitude as you could want. He will even come to you and be with you in your bedroom.

Sermon 45, 7.

O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name overall the earth! You have exalted your majesty above the heavens.

When I behold your heavens, the work of your finger, the moon and the stars which you set in place --

What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him?

You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet:

Psalm 8, 2;4-7

The Son of God came to this earth as a human being and became humble. You too are commanded to be humble but this does not mean that you must deny your humanity, thinking and acting as though you were no better than a beast in the field. God indeed became a human being. You must recognize that you are just that, a human being. Humility for you means that you know exactly who you are.

Commentary on the Gospel of John, 25.16.2.

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