“but whoever humbles himself will be exalted”
What is Humility? Humility is “The moral virtue that keeps a person from reaching beyond himself. It is the virtue that restrains the unruly desire for personal greatness and leads people to an orderly love of themselves based on a true appreciation of their position with respect to God and their neighbors.” “...humility is not only opposed to pride; it is also opposed to immoderate self-abjection, which would fail to recognize God’s gifts and use them according to his will.” [1] The beatitude, “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit” helps us to know our spiritual poverty and we are in need spiritual. How can we be prideful when we are so aware of our need and the necessity of some other than our self, God, to fulfill that need?
How can we be humble in our spiritual life? “Religious humility recognizes one’s total dependence on God.” [2] When we start to realize how little we ultimately control in our lives, the more we can submit to the will of God. J.M. Barrie said, “Life is a long lesson in humility.” It takes our whole life to humble ourselves to where God wants us to be. Humility produces great confidence because when we are near to God, we know we are taken care of. Humility is not looking down on ourselves, but making our self “little” and remembering that we are completely dependent on God.
One of the greatest forms of pride is to think that God does not know “what it’s like” or even that God does not care about our life. Others in our life may not know “what it’s like” but God does. How do we know that God knows what it is like? We know because He is the Creator of each one of us and knows not only every hair on our head, but every emotion and feeling. (Matthew 10:30) We also know because He died on the Cross, uniting all human suffering to His own for the salvation of souls. In showing compassion to others we can only know “what it’s like” if we are united to Christ, it is only in Christ that we can have compassion for the homeless man, the woman considering abortion and many others in pain.
Why should we make our self little, becoming like a child? When we make our self little we are imitating Our Lord, Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist in the quest of littleness. Jesus “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.” (Philippians 2:7) Saint John the Baptist said in regard to Jesus, “He must increase: I must decrease.” (John 3:30) We remember the humble words of Our Lady each time we pray the Angelus, when we pray, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” (Luke 1:38) To make our self little is to live out one of the central mysteries of our faith, the Incarnation. We are living out our belief, “born of the Virgin” that we proclaim in the Apostles Creed.
Search: Blessed is the fruit of your womb
“To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom. For this, we must humble ourselves and become little. Even more: to become ‘children of God’ we must be ‘born from above’ or ‘born of God’ Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us. Christmas is the mystery of this ‘marvelous exchange’: ‘O marvelous exchange! Man’s Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” [3]
How does humility connect us with Christ? We can share in humility with Christ who conquered the world, not through violence and power, “but by the humility that bears witness to the truth.” [4] Humility connects us with the one who came down in flesh and blood to die for us. Humility connects us with Jesus who also humbly comes under the appearance of bread and wine at every Mass. When we come to the altar at Mass, we can better understand the indescribable gift we receive in the Eucharist.
We also want to live by the example of Mary’s humility. Mary personified humility at the Annunciation saying, “Let it be done unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38) She completely looked to God’s will and committed to it. She showed humility when asking Jesus to perform His first miracle saying, “do whatever He tells you.” (Jn. 2:5) This verse shows what Mary is constantly trying to tell us; to do whatever Jesus asks of us, and do it with humility.
Humility is a great weapon against the devil and sin. “The devil’s purpose is to seduce” [5] The more we humble ourselves, the more we allow God to take on the fight against Satan, instead of us who are so weak. “The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.” [6]
Humility is one of the most beautiful virtues. Humility is not something that we can see outwardly, but is an inner beauty that permeates out of a person and shines to all surrounding them. Saint Augustine once wrote, “There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart.” It brings peace and calmness to a struggling heart. Once we stop being prideful and empty ourselves, we see the true beauty and worth we have in God’s eyes.
We live in a culture that seeks to speak of our triumphs and accomplishments with pride to hold over others. We also tend to not truly listen to others, but just wait until we have our chance to speak. Humility looks not to glorify us, but is a gift of charity. St. Vincent de Paul wrote, “Humility and charity are the two master-chords: one, the lowest; the other, the highest; all the others are dependent on them. Therefore it is necessary, above all, to maintain ourselves in these two virtues; for observe well that the preservation of the whole edifice depends on the foundation and the roof.” “Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person should train himself to live in humility: ‘Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother’s progress and you will immediately give glory to God. Because his servant could conquer envy to rejoicing in the merits of others, God will be praised.’ [7]” [8]
Humility helps our prayer life. How does humility help our prayer life? “Humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that ‘we do not know how to pray as we ought,’ (Rom 8:26) are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer.” [9]
Humility is asking for forgiveness in prayer. [10] It also helps with contemplation and meditation on our Lord. [11] We can do this in the heart of Christ in adoration. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is the “first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator...Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications.” [12]
Search: Humility the foundation of Prayer
Search: 12 Steps of Humility
What does it mean to be exalted? Being exalted means holding someone or something in very high regard or to speak highly of them or it. It can also mean giving praise to someone.
Is it wrong to be exalted and praised? No, it is not wrong to receive compliments, praise and cheers for our accomplishments as long as we know that God is the reason for these things. Jesus spoke in the Gospel of the Pharisees and scribes who had taken the positions of great stature and were being praised and exalted for it. They soaked it all in and gave no honor to God. This is why Christ tells us to be humble ourselves; “Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mat. 23:12)
Who is someone in your life that demonstrates humility? What did you learn from their humility?
Why do we pray to God in the entrance antiphon, “Do not abandon me, Lord. My God, do not go away from me! Hurry to help me, Lord, my Savior.” If we truly know what God does for us, we will always pray with the attitude, My God, do not go away, do not abandon me, hurry to help me. The spiritual reading in this packet says much of what God does for us and what life would be like if there was no God. “There is no holiness where you have withdrawn your hand, O Lord; no profitable wisdom if you cease to rule over it; no helpful strength if you cease to preserve it. For if you forsake us, we sink and perish; but if you visit us, we rise up and live again. We are unstable, but you make us firm; we grow cool, but you inflame us.” No holiness, no wisdom, no strength, no stability and no zeal or passion.
The fact is that if God were to cease to exist or even cease to think of us, we would vanish out of existence. There are many things we enjoy in the world. We might like chocolate a lot. What if the existence of chocolate across the world was dependent on us keeping it on our mind always? In other words if we were to at any second stop thinking about chocolate it would vanish. This is impossible for humans, but possible for the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God. The necessity of God is so evident that the philosophy Voltaire said, “If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist; that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.” [13] Voltaire struggled in his belief in the existence of God. He was often seen walking circles around Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France shaking his fist at the grand cathedral. His frustration may lie in his very words that there is a need for God. If there is a need for God, could it possibly be true, that in fact, there is a God to meet that need. In the physical world it is true that if there is a need, there is also a solution to the need. This law would then also apply to not only the physical needs of man, but also the spiritual needs of man.
What keeps us from seeking and trusting in God? Saint Thomas Aquinas identifies four main areas which humans tend to seek, trust and put in the place of God: honor, wealth, power and pleasure. [14] When we are focused on these and try to obtain these by our own means it is easy to become prideful and feel as if we do not need God. Truth and trust is the antidote to the poison of pride. For example if we know the truth and see reality as it is we will know that we cannot provide everything for our self but that it is God that supplies our needs and happiness (pleasure). If we trust in God, there is no need to be concerned about what others think of us (honor), trying to grasp ahold of worldly goods (wealth) or being envious and uncharitable to others (power).
What are some ways we can have a thankful heart at all times and find ways in our daily life to thanks and remember God as He is always remembering and loving us? Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) would write at the top of every letter he wrote: AMDG (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam – All for the Greater Glory of God. At the bottom of the page he would write: LDS (Laus Deo Semper - praise God always). This was a simple and daily way to remember, honor and praise God. We can do this in e-mail, text messages or even in our conversation. Instead of saying, “awesome,” “cool” or whatever the latest word is, we can say “Praise God” or something else in God’s honor when something great happens. What are some other ways?
[1] Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 260
[2] Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 260
[3] Catechism of the Catholic Church; 526
[4] CCC 559
[5] The Catholic Catechism pg. 88
[6] St. Vincent de Paul
[7] St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Rom. 71, 5; PG 60, 448
[8] CCC 2540
[9] CCC 2559
[10] CCC 2631
[11] cf CCC 2706, 2713
[12] CCC 2628
[13] a letter to Frederick William, Prince (later King) of Prussia, dated November 28, 1770
[14] Also see Catholicism; Fr. Robert Barron; Episode 2