INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE

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PART III, Chapter 5: Interior Humility

You desire, Philothea, that I lead you further in humility. For to do as I have already proposed is rather wisdom than humility; now I pass on further. Many neither wish nor dare to think and reflect upon the graces God has given them personally, for fear of vain glory and self-complacency. In this, they certainly deceive themselves. As the great Angelic Doctor[1] says, the true means of attaining to the love of God is the consideration of his blessings. The more we shall know them the more we shall love him. Since the gifts received personally move us more powerfully than those shared in common, they are also to be considered more attentively.

Nothing indeed can humble us so much before the mercy of God as the multitude of his benefits, and nothing can humble us so deeply before his justice as the multitude of our misdeeds. Let us consider what he has done for us and what we have done against him. As we consider in detail our sins so also let us reflect in detail on the graces he has given us. There is no need to fear that the knowledge of the gifts bestowed on us will make us proud provided we are attentive to the truth that the good that is in us is not from us. Alas! The mules do not cease to be clumsy and disgusting beasts even when laden with the precious and perfumed goods of the prince. What good do we have that we have not received? If we have received then why are we proud (1 Cor. 4:7)? On the contrary, a lively consideration of the graces received makes us humble, for recognition of them begets gratitude.

But if the knowledge of the graces God gave us arouses some kind of vanity in us, the sure remedy is to have recourse to the consideration of our ingratitude, our imperfections and our miseries. If we reflect on what we have done when God was not with us then we shall realize well that what we do, when he is with us is not our work or of our thinking. We shall be happy and we shall rejoice in our deeds because we have done them but we shall glorify God alone because he is their author. Thus the Holy Virgin proclaims that God has done great things for her but it is only to humble herself and glorify God: my soul, she says, exalts the Lord because he has done great things for me (Lk. 1:46, 49).

We often say that we are nothing, that we are misery itself and the refuse of the world. But we would be very sorry if anyone took us at our word and made public that we are such. On the contrary, we make a show of running away and hiding ourselves so that we are pursued and sought after. We pretend to wish to be the last, and seated at the lower end of the table, but it is only to pass to the top with greater advantage. Genuine humility does not make a show of itself. It scarcely says words of humility because it does not only wish to hide the other virtues but also and especially seeks to hide itself. If it were lawful to lie, to pretend, or to scandalize one’s neighbour, humility would produce arrogant and proud actions in order to hide itself under them and to live there altogether unknown and concealed.

My advice, then, Philothea, is that either let us not use expressions of humility at all, or say them with true interior awareness in keeping with what we utter externally. Let us never lower our eyes without humbling our hearts. Let us not make a show of wanting to be the last unless we really wish it. Now I hold this rule as so universal that I do not allow any exception to it. I only add that courtesy requires that sometimes we offer precedence to those who will not accept it and this is not duplicity or false humility. Since the offer of precedence is only the beginning of honour, and we cannot give it to them entirely, we do no wrong in giving them its beginning. I say the same about certain words of honour or respect which strictly do not seem sincere. They are all the same true enough, provided the heart of the one who speaks has the right intention of honouring and respecting the person to whom they are addressed. Even though the words mean with a little excess what we say, we are not wrong in using them when the common custom requires it. Further I would wish that our words are as suited as possible to our feelings and we follow in everything and everywhere simplicity and sincerity of heart.

A truly humble person would like to be told that he is miserable, he is nothing, he is worthless, rather than he himself saying it. At least, if he knows that someone said it of him, he does not contradict it but accepts it with a good heart. For as he believes it, he is happy that others follow his opinion about himself.

Many say that they leave mental prayer to the perfect and they themselves are not worthy to practise it. Some declare that they do not dare to receive Communion often because they do not feel themselves pure enough. Others say that they are afraid of bringing disgrace on devotion by practising it because of their great misery and weakness. Others refuse to employ their talents in the service of God and neighbour, because they feel that they know their weakness. In fact, they are afraid of becoming proud if they are instruments of something good, and so while enlightening others, they would burn themselves out. All this is mere pretence and a kind of humility that is not only false but also malicious. By this means, they wish silently and subtly to find fault with the things of God or at all events to conceal self-love, love of their own opinion, their own moods and laziness, under the pretext of humility.

Ask of God for a sign in heaven above or in the depths of the sea below says the prophet Isaiah to the unhappy King Ahaz and he answers, No, I will not ask of him at all. I will not tempt the Lord (Is. 7:11-12). The wicked man! He pretends to show great reverence for God. Under the colour of humility, he excuses himself from aspiring to the grace which divine goodness offers him. But does he not se that it is pride to refuse God’s wish to bestow grace upon us? We are obliged to receive the gifts of God and it is humility to obey and follow as closely as possible his desires. Now the desire of God is that we become perfect (Mt. 5:48) uniting ourselves to him and imitating him as closely as we can. The proud man who trusts in himself has good reason for not undertaking anything. The humble man is all the more courageous, the more he realizes that he is powerless; the more he esteems himself worthless, the more daring he becomes, because he puts his whole trust in God who is pleased to exalt his almighty power in our weakness and manifest his mercy in our misery. Therefore we may dare all that is judged suitable for our progress by those who guide us.

To think that we know what we do not know is utter folly. To appear learned of topics we are well aware that we do not know is an intolerable vanity. As for me, just as I would not wish to pretend myself to be learned even if I knew the subject well, so too I would not like to play the ignorant. When charity requires it, we should communicate to our neighbour frankly and gently not only what is useful for his instruction but also what is useful for his consolation. For humility conceals and covers up virtues to preserve them but makes them appear when charity orders it for increasing, developing and perfecting them. In this humility resembles a tree found in the island of Tylus. At night it shuts up and keeps its beautiful, rose-coloured flowers closed and opens them up again at sunrise so that the inhabitants of the country say that these flowers sleep at night. Thus humility covers and hides all our virtues and human perfections and never allows them to appear except for the sake of charity. Being a virtue not merely human but celestial, not merely moral but divine, charity is the true sun of virtues. Hence it always ought to have dominion over them. So humility which does harm to charity is undoubtedly false.

I would neither play the fool nor the wise man. For if humility prevents me from playing he wise man, simplicity and frankness prevent me likewise from playing the fool. If vanity is contrary to humility, duplicity, affectation and pretence are contrary to frankness and simplicity. If some great servants of God pretended to be fools in order to appear mean before the people, w must admire them and not imitate them. They had some very personal and extraordinary motives for doing such deeds. Hence no one must draw any conclusions for himself from them.

As to David, he danced and leaped before the Ark of the Covenant (2 Sam. 6:14, 16) a little more than ordinary decorum required. It was not because he wanted to make a fool of himself. Simply and without pretence he made use of external movements in proportion to the extraordinary and enormous joy he felt in his heart. It is true that when Michal, his wife, reproached him for it as a folly, he was not annoyed at seeing himself despised (2 Sam. 6:20-22). Thus persevering in the simple and genuine expression of his joy he bore witness to his happiness in bearing a little reproach for the sake of God. Consequently, I tell you that if you are held vile, mean and foolish by people for acts of simple, genuine devotion, then humility will make you rejoice over this happy contempt of which the cause is not in you but in those who despise you.

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[1] Honorific title given to St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) from the fifteenth century.

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