"Humility is the root of all obedience; and patience is obedience made perfect." I read these words recently in Cardinal Henry Manning's work "The Eternal Priesthood". Apt words, too, as humility is something about which I have been forced, perhaps somewhat unwillingly, to ponder these past months.
Modern day interpertations of humility have, I think, somewhat skewed our reactions to the idea of humility so that it can take on a somewhat negative tone. Sometimes, we think more of humiliation, or shame, or being lowly (in a bad way). In this day and age, our society encourages us to be great. We want to be number one (or at least those of us at Notre Dame at the start of a new football season share that attitude.) Humility is not a trait that headhunters will encourage when one is searching for a job. We need to pump ourselves up, and to exaggerate our qualities and talents so that we will rise above the rest of the masses and be noticed by potential employers in hopes of achieving the great job and salary of a lifetime. No matter whether these traits we exhibit on our resumes are based in total truth.
Manning said something else though: “Humility does not consist in ignorance of truth. If a man is above the average height of men, he cannot help knowing it.” Now, recently, someone took offense at my posting of this quotation, thinking that I was making veiled comments about someone's less than average height. However, I was not; because I am not nearly clever enough to come up with those sorts of "read between the line" jokes. What I wanted to convey was that, in order to be humble, we need to openly and totally accept what is true about us. If I possess a fantastic talent, it is up to me to admit to that talent, but also to acknowledge the SOURCE of that talent. For example, I happen to be a fantastic violin player (which, of course, is an outright lie, since I am only able to play one piece with any accomplishment whatsoever, and that is "Drunken Sailor"). But, let's pretend that I am a virtuoso on the violin. In that case, it would be no good to go around saying that I absolutely suck as a violinist. There's nothing more annoying than proffering a compliment to someone, only to have him or her respond in a falsley modest way, in an attempt to downplay the talent that s/he actually possesses. False modestly is NOT humility. I don't know what it IS, but I hate when people respond that way. It makes me wish I had not offered the complimentary words in the first place and, in the end, I just want the person to go away.
Being humble means also admitting the not so good things about ourselves, as well as acknowledging THAT source. As a person of faith, I give gratitude for my talents and gifts to God, whom I acknowledge as the Creator of all good and beautiful things. That is why, in accepting a compliment, I am not being a pompous, proud jerk. I don't actuallly take the credit for my astonishing interpretation of "Drunken Sailor" but, rather, in receiving and accepting praise, give praise to Him who allowed me to have and develop this amazing ability. However, the same is not true for my screw ups. God does not create screw ups. When I fail in life (far too often these days), to be humble is to accept the truth--that it was I who fell short of the mark, of my own volition. To respond any other way is to live a life of falsehood. It is to deny the truth, and, therefore, to let go of any semblance of humility.
I can speak from personal experience in saying that not accepting responsibility for those failings is to opt for the path that spirals downwards. I do believe we were given a sort of road map to assist us in our time here on earth. Part of traveling through life demands that we look inward and discover what we have been given, and what we do possess, and find ways to use those things in order to give glory to God. The other part, which I think is much harder, is to acknowledge that our imperfect selves make huge mistakes, sometimes way too often. When we lack humility, we go on doing the same things over and over again, hurting others, and, just as equally, hurting ourselves. Until we openly and humbly look at ourselves truthfully, we will never get beyond those ugly things that hold us back from achieving our potential, and from carrying out that which were are here to do. I'm not sure, but I think pride might be the opposite of humility, and, you know what "they" say about pride? (In case you don't: it goeth before the fall.) As an aside, I always used to ask my mother who "they" were. She seemed to know "them" pretty well, as she always used to quote them. Well, they must be pretty wise, because they say a lot of things that seem to be true, and, regarding pride, and probably humility too, I think they're right.
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