"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus: who . . . emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant."
Phil. 2: 5-7In studying humility, we should consider how it was
practiced
by our Lord Himself, whose example we should follow, and see how this
abasement is united in Him to the highest virtues.
THE HUMILITY AND MAGNANIMITY OF CHRIST
In the second chapter of his epistle to the Philippians, St. Paul,
wishing to exhort us to humility, speaks of the infinite majesty of
the Savior that we may better see to what an extent He humbled
Himself. The union of these two extremes is amazing, and should be
found to some extent in Christian perfection.
In this celebrated passage, St. Paul teaches clearly the eternal
preexistence of the divine person of Christ. He tells us: "Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied
Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of
men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming
obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross."
"Being in the form of God. . ." The word "form" in St. Paul's text
designates intimate, fundamental, essential being; in this case, the
nature of God. In other words, although the only Son of the Father is
truly God, "the brightness of His glory, and the figure of His
substance," as we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews,(1) He did not
eagerly retain His equality with God.
Lucifer, on the contrary, though only a creature, wished to be
equal to God and not to recognize in practice any master superior to
himself. In the error of his pride, he exclaimed: "I will be like he
Most High," (2) and in order to tempt us he tells us: "You shall be as
gods." (3)
Jesus, who is truly God, emptied Himself. St. Paul here affirms the
divinity of Christ as clearly as it is expressed in the prologue to
St. John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. . . . The only begotten Son who is in
the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him."(4)
"He emptied Himself." How? He did not lose His divine nature; He
remained what He was, but He took or assumed our poor human nature. In
coming down from heaven, He did not leave it, but He began to dwell on
earth in the humblest condition. In this sense He emptied Himself.
Whereas the divine nature is the infinite plenitude of all
perfections, human nature is as if empty, although it aspires to
plenitude; the human intellect is at the beginning like a blank page
on which nothing is written. The only Son of God emptied Himself,
taking our human nature, which is infinitely below the divine nature,
and even below the purely spiritual nature of the angels, even of the
lowest among them.
"He took the form of a servant," for man, God's creature, is the
servant of the Most High. The only Son of the Father therefore took in
His divine person the nature of a servant, the condition of a slave,
so that one and the same person might be the Son of God and the Son of
man, that the same person might be the only Son begotten from all
eternity and the Infant in the crib at Bethlehem and the Man of
sorrows nailed to the cross.
"Being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man."
He wished to be rendered like His brethren in all things, sin
excepted; even more, He wished to be born among the poor. He was cold
and hungry, like a man of humble condition. He was tired and worn out,
as we are and more than we are.
St. Paul adds, penetrating far more deeply into this mystery: "He
humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death." The God-man humbled
Himself. We read in Ecclesiasticus: "The greater thou art, the more
humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God:
for great is the power of God alone, and He is honored by the humble."
(5) For this reason Christ Himself tells us: "Learn of Me because I am
meek, and humble of heart." (6)
The sign of humility is obedience. Pride, on the contrary, inclines
us to do our own will and to seek what exalts us, not to wish to be
directed by others, but to direct them. Obedience is opposed to this
pride. The only Son of the Father came down from heaven to save us, to
cure our pride, becoming obedient unto death, and even to the death of
the cross.
Obedience renders our acts and sufferings meritorious to such an
extent that, useless as they may appear, they may become very
fruitful. One of the marvels accomplished by our Savior is to have
rendered fruitful what was most useless, that is, suffering. He
glorified it by obedience and love. Obedience is great, heroic, when
man does not refuse death and does not flee ignominy. Now the death of
the Word made flesh was most ignominious. It was announced by the Book
of Wisdom, in the words of the impious directed against the wise man
par excellence: "Let us condemn him to the most shameful death." (7)
Death on the cross was considered precisely by the Romans and Jews as
an infamous and horrible torture reserved to slaves. We read in
Deuteronomy: "He is accursed of God that hangeth on a tree." (8) And
St. Paul says to the Galatians: "Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law [which is powerless to justify us], being, made a
curse for us; for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree.' "(9) This abasement was necessary before Christ entered into
His glory as Redeemer.
Likewise in the Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul speaks of "the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of the Egyptians."
(10) Farther on, he says: "Jesus, the author and finisher of faith . .
. endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right
hand of the throne of God." (11)
We can thus see how the cross of the Savior was "a stumbling block"
for the Jews.(12) They had to believe that the wood of malediction
became the instrument of salvation, that He who was fastened to it,
instead of being accursed of God, was to become the source of every
grace, the object of love and adoration.(13)
All that St. Paul says is already contained in the mystery of the
nativity of the Lord, who came down from heaven for our salvation, as
the Credo states. The infant Jesus foresaw all these painful and
glorious events. As we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "When He
cometh into the world, He saith: 'Sacrifice and oblation [of the Old
Law] Thou wouldst not; but a body Thou hast fitted to Me. . . . Then
said I: Behold, I come to do Thy will, O God.' "(14) This heroic
example of humble obedience should be always before our eyes.
The liturgy of Christmas continually recalls this example by
contrasting the humility and the majesty of our Savior:
Memento, salutis auctor,
Quod nostri quondam corporis
Ex illibata Virgine
Nascendo formam sumpseris. |
Author of grace, sweet Savior mine,
Remember that Thy flesh divine
From the unsullied Virgin came,
Made like unto our mortal frame. |
And in the office for Christmas we read these words of Pope St.
Leo: "The two natures, divine and human, without losing their
properties, are united in a single person; humility is sustained by
majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity. If the Savior were
not truly God, He would not bring the remedy; and if He were not truly
man, He would not be an example for us."
In the nativity of Jesus everything speaks to us of His humility.
We read in St. Luke: "She brought forth her first-born Son, and
wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because
there was no room for them in the inn." (15) There was no room for the
Word of God made flesh; a fact we must not forget when there is no
room for us. The first adorers were poor shepherds "watching, and
keeping the night-watches over their flock" But a multitude of angels
descended from heaven singing: "Glory to God in the highest; and on
earth peace to men of good will" 16
The two extremes are united: "The Word was made flesh." It is the
joining of supreme riches and perfect poverty to give men redemption
and peace. It is impossible to conceive a more intimate union of a
more profound humility and a more lofty dignity. The two infinitely
distant extremes are intimately united; God alone could do it. It is
not only beautiful, it is sublime, an extreme elevation in the order
of the spiritually beautiful. It is what makes the grandeur of
Christ's physiognomy. He always tends toward very great things, worthy
of the greatest honor, but He tends to them most humbly with full
submission to the will of His Father and acceptance in advance of all
the humiliations of the Passion and cross, which He foresees from His
infancy. He exemplifies the closest union of perfect humility and
loftiest magnanimity.
THE UNION OF HUMILITY AND CHRISTIAN DIGNITY
In what regard must we imitate Christ in the union of humility and
Christian dignity? How can we harmonize these two extremes in our
lives: a humility which should always grow and the keen desire for
perfection and union with God? On the one hand, the Lord tells us to
abase ourselves, so much so that we cannot humble ourselves too
greatly, and on the other hand, we read in Scripture: "Be ye also
perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."
How can we harmonize "this abasement which is demanded of us, with
the ardent desire for our progress? Souls fear to fail in humility by
aspiring to a union with God of which they feel unworthy. The
Jansenists went so far as to say that out of humility one should only
rarely receive Communion. This practical difficulty exists especially,
it is true, for souls that have lost the superior simplicity which
comes from grace; but it may exist for us when we have to distinguish
between true and false humility in ourselves. We experience it
particularly when we must defend our way of living against that of
others. At the beginning of the discussion we may speak solely for
love of truth, but if we are constrained, often we reply with the
impatience and pride of wounded self-love.
The simplest souls find the solution of this problem in rereading
what Scripture says about the union of these two extremes: "Whosoever,
therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, he is the
greater in the kingdom of heaven." (17) "Be you humbled therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in the time of
visitation: casting all your care upon Him for He hath care of you."
(18) "Be humbled in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you."
(19) "The Lord killeth and maketh alive, He bringeth down to hell and
bringeth back again. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, He humbleth
and He exalteth." (20)
The union of deep humility and supernatural magnanimity is
particularly mysterious in the saints. In this respect they reproduce
the life of the Savior, while remaining far from His perfection. This
point must be emphasized, for in it is a great lesson for us. On the
one hand, the saints declare that they are the least of men because of
their infidelity to grace, and on the other hand they have a
superhuman dignity. For example, St. Paul says of himself: "He rose
again the third day. . . and was seen by Cephas, and after that by the
eleven. Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once. .
. and last of all He was seen also by me as by one born out of due
time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be
called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God." (21) He
even speaks of the infirmities that humiliate him and oblige him to
pray God to come to his relief.(22)
On the other hand, when St. Paul had to defend his ministry against
false apostles, he wrote with magnanimity: "They are Hebrews: so am I.
. . . They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise): I
am more; in many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes
above measure, in deaths often. . . . Thrice was I beaten with rods,
once I was stoned." (23) He enumerates his labors, his cares; he even
speaks of the visions and revelations he received from God. But
finally, reverting to a deeper humility he writes: "And lest the
greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a
sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me [that I might not
become proud]. For which thing thrice I be sought the Lord that it
might depart from me. And He said to me: 'My grace is sufficient for
thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity.' Gladly therefore will I
glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me."
(24)
In his commentary on this chapter of the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians, St. Thomas speaks admirably of the union of humility and
magnanimity in St. Paul. He writes as follows: "As charity is the root
of the virtues, pride is the beginning of every sin.(25) It is the
inordinate desire of our own excellence: we desire it then without
subordinating it to God. Thus we turn away from Him, which is the
beginning of every sin; for this reason God resists the proud.(26) As
there is in good people the good of which they may become proud, God
sometimes permits some infirmity in His elect, some defect, and
occasionally a mortal sin, which prevents them from becoming proud,
which truly humiliates them, and makes them recognize that they cannot
hold out or persevere by their own strength. The apostle St. Paul in
particular might have grown proud of many things: he was a vessel of
election to carry the faith to the Gentiles; (27) he had been ravished
to the third heaven and heard secret words, which it is not granted to
man to utter; (28) he had suffered greatly for Christ, several times
he had been cast into prison, and scourged; he was a virgin (having
obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful); (29) he had labored more
than all, as he says; (30) and in particular he had a lofty knowledge
of divine things which may be the source of pride. For this reason the
Lord gave him a remedy for pride. That the excellence of the
revelations made to him might not make him proud, he received a sting
in the flesh, a humiliating infirmity which crucified his body in
order to heal his soul. . . . As he says, an angel of Satan came and
buffeted him. How the sinner should tremble if the great Apostle, the
instrument of election, is not sure of himself! Three times he
ardently begged the Lord to deliver him from this sting; three times,
that is, often and urgently. He then heard these words: 'My grace is
sufficient for thee,' it will preserve thee from sin. Divine power is
shown in weakness, which is an occasion for the exercise of the
virtues of humility, patience, and abnegation. The man who knows his
weakness is more attentive to resisting it and, because he struggles,
he grows in strength. 'Gladly therefore will I glory in my
infirmities,' says St. Paul, since I am thus more humble, and I must
fight that the power of Christ may dwell in me and bear all its fruits
of grace." (31)
Something similar occurred in the life of St. Peter, who was
humiliated because he denied our Lord during the Passion. Peter thus
lost all presumption and placed his confidence no longer in himself,
but in God alone.
The principle of the harmonizing of humility and Christian
magnanimity is expressed in these words of St. Paul: "We have this
treasure [of divine truth] in earthen vessels, that the excellency may
be of the power of God and not of us." (32) One of the most beautiful
formulas of the harmonizing of humility and magnanimity is the
following, taken from the works of St. Thomas: "The servant of God
should always consider himself a beginner and always tend toward a
more perfect and holy life without ever stopping." (33)
Thus in the great saints humility and magnanimity are harmonized;
they tend toward great things in the midst of trials and humiliations.
There is, however, always an immense difference between them and the
Savior; Christ who was most humble is sinless, without the slightest
fault to deplore, most humble in His absolute impeccability and His
sovereign dignity.
In the Blessed Virgin Mary, due proportion being kept, there is
something similar. She was preserved from every sin, and in her
Magnificat she appears at one and the same time very humble and very
great, terrible to the demon: "My soul doth magnify the Lord. . . . He
hath regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold from henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed. Because He that is mighty hath
done great things to me. . . . He hath put down the mighty from their
seat, and hath exalted the humble." (34)
Something analogous appears also for our consolation in the life of
the Church, the spouse of Christ. Throughout its history Christ's
words are verified: "Everyone that exalteth himself, shall be humbled;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (35) Christ made this
statement when He spoke of the guests who took the first places, and
again in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican.(36) In
persecutions the Church often seems conquered; yet it is always
victorious. In its humility it tends toward the great things which are
the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Lastly, there should be something similar in every Christian,
especially in every religious. He must be truly humble like a root
hidden under the ground, and he should always tend toward these great
things, a more living faith, a more firm hope, a more ardent charity,
a union with God that is daily more intimate, pure, and strong. Thus
extremes are harmonized, like the deep root of the tree which
symbolizes humility and the loftiest branch which is the figure of
charity. All the virtues are connected and grow together, just as the
root buries itself ever deeper in the soil, while the tallest branch
reaches up toward heaven.
Thus in the mystical body of the Savior should be realized what St.
Leo said of Christ Himself: "Humility is sustained by majesty,
weakness by strength, mortality by eternity." Gradually in the
mystical body of Christ "that which is mortal, may be swallowed up by
life." (37) "For this corruptible must put on incorruption," (38) that
the mystery of the redemption may be accomplished, that the incarnate
Word may apply to us the fruit of His merits and be actually and fully
the Author of salvation.
What majesty there is in the title Salutis auctor! And how
well united it is with these words: "Learn of Me, because I am meek,
and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls." (39) May
the Savior grant us the grace to become like to Him. We have no true
humility except that which He gives us; therefore we must sincerely
beg it of Him and accept the road which leads to it.
APPENDIX: THE GLORY OF THE CROSS
"He humbled Himself. . . even to the death of the cross. For which
cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is
above all names."
Phil. 2:8 f.
(We reproduce here a manuscript that has come into our possession, and
have added some explanatory notes. It is a meditation on the glory of
Christ in relation to the depth of His humiliations and sufferings.)
"For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son." (1) In
the great mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of ineffable love,
there is a core which is impenetrable to human reason, a secret which
God alone reveals: the reason for the immense sufferings of the
redemptive Passion.
If, in the presence of the crucifix, each Christian can say: "Jesus
crucified, pledge of the love of my Father," not one is capable of
telling the reason which motivated the decree of the Passion and death
of the Son of God. This decree is the secret of divine love.(2)
We adore the excesses of humiliation, the indescribable ignominies
to which the incarnate Word subjected Himself in obedience to His
Father and through love of men, His brethren, but we cannot explain
these excesses, this ocean of sufferings, until the Lord Himself lifts
the veil covering this "holy of holies." Then the mystery still
remains a mystery, but the soul, enlightened regarding its secret,
contemplates in ecstasy the ineffable harmonies of the divine
masterpiece: the glory of the redemptive cross.
The words of holy Scripture: "I will not give My glory to another,"
(3) sum up what is hidden in this secret of the passion and death of
Christ Jesus, and contain at the same time the marvelous harmony of
all the divine words.
From all eternity God willed the Incarnation of the Word, His Son,
as Redeemer of the world and head of redeemed humanity. In our Lord
Jesus Christ [habitual] grace has for its principal end the most
eminent union that God can grant to a created nature, that is, the
hypostatic union, by which the Son of Mary, while enjoying the
beatific vision from the moment of His incarnation, could affirm:"The
Father and I are one." This grace was given to Jesus Christ for the
end which determined His coming to earth: this end is no other than
the satisfaction which, as head of His mystical body, He was to offer
to the thrice holy God.
However, by reason of the infinite dignity of the person of the
Word, a single drop of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ would have
sufficed to redeem a thousand worlds, did they exist. Therefore, not
in the necessity of redeeming sinful humanity should we seek the
motive for the excesses of the most holy passion and death of Christ.
Let us seek it, rather, in the splendors of the glory of the
Incarnation (or of the manifestation of the radiating goodness of the
Savior), because it is there that we shall find it. The essential
glory of God, the incommunicable and essential glory of the adorable
Trinity became in the mystery of the Incarnation the magnificent
portion of the sacred humanity of Jesus, as the Eagle of the
Evangelists says in the prologue to his Gospel: "And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as It were
of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." (4)
The excesses of the sorrow and humiliation of the passion and death
of our Lord were the compensation demanded by divine wisdom, which
does all things with weight and measure, in exchange for the ineffable
glory which the God-man would enjoy eternally.(5) "I will not give My
glory to another." Yahve had spoken through His prophet, and these
words were not belied, not even in favor of the incarnate Word, since
by His passion and death our Lord Jesus Christ not only snatched the
entire world from the domination of Satan and death, but in addition
He won for His most sacred humanity the right to be enthroned in the
eternal tabernacles at the right hand of the Father. Our Lord alluded
to the necessity of conquering this right (6) on the evening of His
resurrection when He said to the disciples of Emmaus: "O foolish, and
slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into
His glory?" (7) In fact, the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ is
admirable, indescribable, since it is the glory of the only Son of the
Father, and as such this glory exceeds the capacity of comprehension
of human and angelic intellects; only God Himself can fully appreciate
it, since He alone knows Himself perfectly.
Although the glory of the only Son is ineffable, a Gospel text
gives us a little light on the subject: "He that believeth in Me, as
the Scripture saith, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water." (8) Jesus spoke this to all in a loud voice on the feast of
tabernacles. And the Evangelist St. John adds: "This He said of the
Spirit which they should receive who believed in Him." To give the
Holy Ghost to souls is the glory of the risen Christ, a glory that is
unique, ineffable. Sacred Scripture continues: "For as yet the Spirit
was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." (9) The Holy
Ghost will be given on Pentecost when, through the humiliations of His
passion and death, the Lord Jesus will enter into His glory because
"he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted." (10)
And who has ever humbled himself like the Pontiff of the New Law,
Christ our Lord? Consequently, in justice no one ever was or ever will
be as exalted as He: "He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto
death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath
exalted Him and hath given Him a name which is above all names: that
in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in
heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should
confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father."
(11) O gloria crucis.(12)
The pages just quoted throw special light on the Savior's
humiliations, the dark night of His passion, and also on the night
through which the saints must pass. This manuscript enables us to
understand better what St. John of the Cross wrote about the night of
the soul, and the reparatory sufferings which great servants of God
like St. Paul of the Cross have had to bear. It is a well-known fact
that having been raised to the transforming union at the age of
thirty-one, St. Paul of the Cross spent forty-five years in continual
and most profound interior sufferings for the salvation of sinners. He
was closely configured to Jesus crucified: the depths, the duration,
the continuity of his sufferings were proportioned to the "eternal
weight of glory," to use the expression of St. Paul, which he was to
receive in heaven.
Thus we see the elevation of the infused virtues and what the
progress of humility should be in proficients and the perfect: "He
that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (13)
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