True face of humility

I WAS happy to learn that Pope Francis tackled the

question of humility in his latest Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et

exsultate (Rejoice and be glad), which is about holiness in today’s

world.

  

            In paragraph 118 of the document, he said it very clearly:

“Humility can only take root in the heart through humiliations.

Without them, there is no humility or holiness. If you are unable to

suffer and offer up a few humiliations, you are not humble and you are

not on the path to holiness.

  

            “The holiness that God bestows on his Church comes through

the humiliation of his son. He is the way. Humiliation makes you

resemble Jesus; it is an unavoidable aspect of the imitation of

Christ.”

   

            These words resonate strongly with me. Years ago, when

still as a college student, I was very intrigued by the words of St.

Josemaria Escriva in his book, The Way. Point 594 of that book said:

“You are humble not when you humble yourself, but when you are humbled

by others and you bear it for Christ.”

  

            I remember that these words prompted me to make some

radical adjustments, a paradigm shift, in my understanding of

humility. I thought humility was a matter of humbling oneself, which I

was willing to do, at least to some extent. What Escriva’s words told

me, and now what Pope Francis is reminding me, is that humility is a

matter of being humiliated by others and by some external

developments.

  

            That was hard to do and to make as an organic part of my

attitudes. It means that I have to go beyond my feelings, my

preferences, my ideas of humility. It means that humility does not

depend on me, but on how things go in the world, no matter how

unpalatable they would be to me or to anyone.

  

            To be sure, this character of humility can only be found

in Christ who precisely said: “Learn from me for I am meek and humble

in heart.” (Mt 11,29) And he expressed this very vividly in his life

by going through all the mockeries, insults and ultimately the

crucifixion during his passion and death just to complete our

redemption.

  

            We need to adapt this understanding of humility as taught

and lived by Christ and as Pope Francis now reminds us of. Yes, it

will require tremendous effort on our part, but the grace of God will

always be there. Let us just keep in mind Christ’s reassurance: “My

yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Mt 11,30)

            Let us not over-react to all the humiliations we can

encounter in our life by not insisting too much on the tit-for-tat

kind of justice. Let us remember that even those humiliations and

expressions of hatred and injustice that can be inflicted on us will

always play into the redemptive game-plan of God for us, if not now

then in the end.

   

            When Caiaphas, for example, said that “it is better for

you that one man dies for the people than that the whole nation

perish,” (Jn 11,50) he was actually playing into God’s game-plan. St.

John in his gospel said: “He (Caiaphas) prophesied that Jesus would

die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for

the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them

one.”

  

            Thus, we should not over-react when all insults,

injustice, violence and all other forms of humiliations would pour on

us. We need to react the way Christ reacted to his humiliations.

   

            That is the only way we can truly be humble and in the end

to be truly holy, as Pope Francis said his latest Apostolic

Exhortation. We need to make some radical adjustments in our

understanding and ways of living this particular virtue of humility.