Saint Augustine stated, “The way to Christ is first through humility, second through humility, third through humility.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas in the Summa perfectly defines this virtue, “Humility means seeing ourselves as God sees us: knowing every good we have comes from Him as pure gift.”
Humility’s opposite, pride, is seen as the root of all evil. Therefore, humility serves as the foundation from which all other virtues are able to take root. Without humility what would seem to be virtuous would only point back to our self importance.
From Saint John Chrysostom, “Humility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all virtue.”
Humility is no easy task. A simple reflection of the prayer known as the Litany of Humility would give rise to such feelings. Deliver me, Jesus from the desire of being esteemed, the desire of being loved, the desire of being extolled, the desire of being honored, the desire of being praised, the desire of being preferred to others, the desire of being consulted, the desire of being approved, the fear of being humiliated, the fear of being despised, the fear of suffering rebukes, the fear of being calumniated, the fear of being forgotten, the fear of being ridiculed, the fear of being wronged, and the fear of being suspected.
Dispositions such as these should make us see the difficultly of being humble. It is easy to want ourself to be exalted for all the wondrous things that we have done. We must live in proper balance where we don’t think too highly or too lowly of self. Through humility we realize who we are and that we are dependent on God’s grace and the love that Christ shares to us from the wood of the cross.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola makes reference to three modes of humility: humility for the sake of salvation, humility of a detached life, and humility for the Love of the poor Christ. To achieve this we must first acknowledge our need for humility by acknowledging our faults and sins. Then we can grow in our desire to follow the will of God instead of being caught up in our own desires, and then finally we are able to live as one who goes about things simply out of pure love for Jesus.
Let us desire to grow in such humility for without humility we would be unable to strive to be saints. Through such humility we will find our rest not in the ways of this world, but in Christ who invites us to abandon all things in order to come and follow after Him.
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