Humility
Humility St Benedict has a very important section in his 'Rule for Monks' on humility, and Bernard preached it throughout his life. Why did he think it so important? Because humility is truth. Truth is a gift of God and it helps us to discover our identity: who we are, who we have become, and where we are going. He says: 'Be honest, take a good look at yourself, recognise yourself as you are.' This is vital, of practical value for everyone, in any walk of life. No one can do it for us. We all know the tragedy of those who refuse to do this, who refuse to admit who they are, and so they remain trapped in a world of pretence, unable to grow or move forward.
He speaks of humility of understanding which we learn from our own weaknesses and which leads to compassion for others, and also of humility of the heart which we learn only from Jesus and which leads to purity of heart. It is the pure of heart, he reminds us, who will see God.
A Deep Heart If a man wants to know the full truth about himself he will have to get rid of the beam of pride which blocks out the light from his eye, and then set up in his heart a ladder of humility so that he can search into himself. When he has seen the truth about himself, or better when he has seen himself in truth, such a man has come to a deep heart.
Up to this he has been examining himself. Now he looks out from himself to others, exclaiming: 'Every man is a liar.'
What does he mean? He means that every man is unreliable because too weak, helpless and infirm to save either himself or others.
This is very different from the conceit of the proud Pharisee.
He damned all others, excepting only himself, and fooling only himself. The Psalmist shared the common mercy because he included himself in the common misery. The Pharisee waved aside mercy when he denied his misery.
When in the light of Truth men know themselves, they blush at what they see. They admit that to make satisfaction is beyond their own powers, so they look beyond their own needs to the needs of their neighbours and from what they themselves have suffered, learn compassion. a2
Self-Knowledge Self-knowledge is the mother of salvation, and of this mother is born humility, and the fear of the Lord which, just as it is the beginning of wisdom is the beginning of salvation. And what if you should fail to know God? How can there be any hope of salvation, where there is ignorance of God? It is impossible. For then you can neither love one whom you do know, nor possess one whom you have not loved.
Know yourself then, that you may fear God; know God that you may also love him. Knowledge of yourself will be the beginning of wisdom, knowledge of God will be the completion, the perfection of wisdom; because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the fulfilment of the Law is charity. Beware then, both of ignorance of yourself and ignorance of God since there is no salvation without the fear and the love of God. All other knowledge is indifferent, since the possession of it does not give us salvation.
Humility of Heart The Saviour, when he comes, will re-form the body of our lowliness, made like to the body of his glory, only on condition, however, that he finds our hearts already re-formed and made like to the humility of his own heart. Therefore has he said, 'Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart.'
In connection with this I would have you notice, my Brothers, that there are two kinds of humility, the one appertaining to knowledge (or to the understanding), the other belonging to the affections (or to the will). It is this latter which Christ calls humility of the heart.
By humility of the understanding we know that we are nothing; we learn this humility from ourselves and from the experience of our own weakness. Humility of the will, or of the heart enables us to trample underfoot the glory of the world; but it is only to be learned from him who emptied himself taking the form of a servant, and who freely offered himself when they wished to make him suffer all kinds of ignominy and the shameful death of the cross
. and who endured such torments in order to reconcile sinners to himself.
Humiliations Although what I have written may be of no use to you, it will certainly profit my humility! While he holds his peace a fool may pass for a wise man. And so by holding my peace
I could have passed for a wise man. But as it is some will laugh at my stupidity, others will mock at me as a fool, and yet others will be indignant at my presumption. All this will be of no small help to my sanctification, because humiliations lead to humility and humility is the foundation of the spiritual life.
Humiliation is the only way to humility, just as patience is the only way to peace, and reading to knowledge. If you want the virtue of humility you must not shun humiliations.
If you will not suffer yourself to be humbled, you can never achieve humility. It is an advantage for me that my foolishness should be made public, that I whose lot it has often been to receive undeserved praise from those who do not know me, should now be discomforted by those who have found me out. Only the truly humble man can be said to restrain himself, sparing his own soul, because he prefers to conceal what he is, so that no one should believe him to be what he is not.
Three Degrees of Truth There are three degrees in the perception of truth. We must look for truth in ourselves; in our neighbours; in itself. The merciful quickly grasp the truth in their neighbours when their heart goes out to them with a love that unites them so closely that they feel their neighbours' good and ill as if it were their own. Their hearts are made more clear-sighted by love, and they experience the delight of contemplating truth, not now in others but in itself.
You will never have real mercy for the failings of another until you know and realise that you have the same failings in your soul. Our Saviour has given us the example. He willed to suffer so that he might know compassion. To learn mercy he shared our misery. What in his divine nature he knows from all eternity he learned by experience in time.
I do not say he became wiser by such experience, but he was seen as being closer to us. And frail men to whom he gave the title and reality of being brothers, would have less hesitation about laying their weaknesses before him, who as God could heal them, as one close to them would heal them; and as one who had suffered the same things would understand.
Blessed are the Merciful Anyone who asks for pardon is fittingly answered with these words: 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy'.
If you want God to be merciful to you, then you must be merciful towards your own soul. If you have compassion on yourself, if you struggle on in groanings of penance — for this is mercy's first step — you will arrive at mercy. If you are perhaps a frequent sinner and seek great mercy and frequent forgiveness, you must work also at increasing your mercy.
Then you are reconciled to yourself, where before you had become a burden to yourself, because you had set yourself up against God.
Once peace has been restored to you in this way in your own house, the first thing to do is to extend it to your neighbours so that God may come at last to kiss you with the very kiss of his mouth. In this way being reconciled to God, as it has been written, you may have peace. Forgive those who have sinned against you, and you will be forgiven your sins when you pray to the Father with an easy conscience and say:
'Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.'
The Taste of Wisdom The Word is strength and he is wisdom. Let the soul draw strength from his strength and wisdom from his wisdom; let it ascribe both gifts to the Word alone. If any one has need of wisdom, let him ask it from God, who gives to all freely.
I think the same applies to virtue, for virtue is the sister of wisdom. Virtue is God's gift and must be counted among his best gifts, coming down from the Father of the Word.
Virtue is characterised by strength of mind, and wisdom by peace of mind and spiritual sweetness. If any one defines wisdom as the love of virtue, I think you are not far from the truth. For where there is love there is no toil, but a taste, a savour.
Perhaps 'sapientia', that is wisdom, is derived from 'sapor', which means taste, because when it is added to virtue, like some seasoning, it adds savour to something which by itself is tasteless and bitter.
I think one could define wisdom as a taste for goodness. We lost this taste almost from the creation of our human race, when the serpent's poison infected the palate of our heart.
When wisdom enters, it purifies the understanding, cleanses and heals the palate of the heart, so it tastes wisdom itself, and there is nothing better.