Rediscovering Humility
November 7, 2023 - Tuesday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm 131:1bcde, 2, 3
A dictionary entry for “humility” gives the following answer: “the quality of having a modest or low view of one's importance”. According to Confucius, “humility is the solid foundation of all virtues” and Saint Augustine thinks likewise. He said: “Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues, hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist, there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance." Then, why is this virtue so despised in our contemporary world?
We are told to trust in ourselves, to reach for the sky, to dream big, and to climb to the top. It is ambition and pride that drive our aspirations and lives. Who among us can honestly say with the psalmist: “I do not aspire to great things or to what is beyond me” (Ps 131:1b)? Our contemporary world seems to be influenced by the tale of Dr. Faustus who in his desire to break the limits placed by God upon human beings, made a pact with the devil. We aspire to great things. Like Dr. Faustus, we want to defy the laws of physics and the restrictions of morality. But there is a prize to be paid for such an attitude. The price that Dr. Faustus paid was his eternal damnation. The price that we are going to pay will be our destruction.
Psalm 131 is one of the shortest psalms in the Psalter and it speaks about trust and humility as the foundational virtues of those who believe in God. But, it presents a challenge for us raised in a culture where arrogance and self-reliance are elevated to the pinnacle of success. Thus, the question is: Can we become humble again? Can acquiring the virtue of humility excite us the way being proud of ourselves excites so many of us? Can we live within the limits set for us by our Creator?
As Christians, we are supposed to be the followers of Christ. Jesus Christ presented to us in the Gospels and the writings of the apostles is our model, on whom we should shape our lives. Thus, we are supposed to exhibit Christ-like qualities in our lives and one among them is Christ’s humility. Saint Paul writes that Jesus Christ, although “being in very nature God, [he] did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage” (Phil 2:6). By becoming human being, the Word of God humbled himself (see Phil 2:8). The apostle tells us we should imitate Jesus in this attitude (see Phil 2:5) and “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves" (Phil 2:3).
The ancient Christian hymn about Christ’s humility (Phil 2:6-11) presents Jesus as descending from the highest position of being in the form of God to the lowest position of becoming human that is falsely accused, despised by others, and finally executed through the most cruel and humiliating way known in the Ancient Rome - the crucifixion. The psalmist says that in his humble submission to the Lord, he felt as secure as a child in their mother’s arms (Ps 131:2). Jesus exhibited a similar trust in the Father throughout his entire life. The psalmist ends his confession of faith with an invitation to wait upon, to hope in the Lord (Ps 131:3). After Jesus’ crucifixion came the resurrection and His exultation at the right of the Father (Phil 2:10-11).
Humility is a beautiful virtue that needs to be rediscovered in our times. And so, we turn to our Lady of humility sitting on a small cushion just above the ground and holding the baby Jesus in her lap and pray:
O God, who look down upon the lowly and know the heights from afar: grant that your children may with pure heart imitate the humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary; she who was pleasing to you in her virginity and in humility conceived our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son: Who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.