Sect. III: Effects of Humility with Reference to our Neighbor

No. I. The humble man fulfills perfectly all the duties of charity.—II. He places himseif beneath all.—III. Why?—IV. Even beneath sinners. – Conclusion.

I. The humble man despises no one; he has a good opinion of all, far from calumniating any one he excuses as far as he can, the faults of his neighbor, and speaks well of every one, his words are full of affability, sweetness and respect, according to the quality of those with whom he treats; he never contests, but after having gently exposed his reasons, yields modestly; for whoever contradicts others and sustains his opinion with obstinacy, clearly shows that he prefers it to that of others, and that he wishes to vanquish them. These are not the thoughts of humility, it seeks its gains only in its losses, it believes itself a conqueror only when it surrenders. Moreover, the humble man offends no one, he seeks to please all, he does not deem himself better than the greatest sinners, because he knows he is nothing in the order of nature, and if in the order of grace he seems better than they, he owes this not to his own power, but to the goodness of God. He calls to mind these words of St. Austin: "There is no sin which one man has committed but another may commit, if God abandon him." Hence the same Doctor says: "Lord, it is thy grace which has preserved me from the sins I have not committed." The humble man goes still farther, regarding himself as the greatest of sinners, and for this reason William of Paris likens humility to balm, which being the heaviest of all liquors always sinks to the bottom of the vessel which contains it, and yet it is the most precious. But we shall speak more in detail concerning this matter, for it is a fundamental point from which flow all our sentiments of humility towards our neighbor: humility which appears the most difficult in practice.

II. St. Paul says to all in the persons of the Philippians: "Let there be no contentions among you, no vain glory; but in the spirit of humility let each esteem all others better than himself." After this rule, St. Ignatius prescribes to all the members of the Society of Jesus, to prefer others to themselves, to regard their brethren as their superiors, and render to each the honor and respect his state demands: we shall now give the reason why this great humility should be practised towards others.

III. St. Thomas, carefully examining this question, says: "Two things may be considered in man: what comes from God, that is, all his goods; and what comes from himself, that is, all his evils:" humility inclines a man to consider in himself what comes from himself, and in others what comes from God, because as it tends to abasement it must view things in this light; it is a judge to itself, it is a mother to others; as its principal object is respect and submission towards God, it evinces this respect to all that comes from God. Hence every man ought to consider himself beneath his neighbor, by reflecting on what he is in himself, and what his neighbor holds from God. We must reverence God not only in Himself, but also in His gifts bestowed on our neighbor; through a spirit of humility submitting to all men, because of God who is in them, and of the favors he has heaped on them. Be subject to every human creature for God's sake, says St. Peter, and for the sake of what He has done in them and for them.

The great secret of this consists in knowing well what men have from God, separating what is divine from what is human, seeing what is good, and closing the eyes to what is bad, all which may be easily done, for according to the maxims of philosophers, it is not contrary to truth when two things are united to think of one without thinking of the other. Princes are greatly honored on account of their birth, though it often happens that those who honor them are greatly superior to them in other respects, and therefore in this aspect, more estimable. On the contrary, the demons are accounted beneath the worst of men, because of their malignity, though in natural gifts they surpass man. We may then separate in our minds things that are united—honor a person because of certain qualities without thinking of others which would render him despicable in our eyes.

Moreover, says the same Doctor, a man may lawfully believe himself the most contemptible of all, if he compare his secret defects with the gifts of God which he perceives in others. But for the better developement of this, we must remember what experience demonstrates, that God so distributes His gifts, that there is not a man who, if he have not certain things he sees in others, does not surpass them in something; thus we see that one has more memory, another more judgment, another more intellect; one has aptitude for the speculative sciences, another excells in eloquence, another is a poet, another an historian; one is born to be a painter, another a sculptor, etc. There is no one human being who has not some natural gift peculiar to himself, and in whose mind we should not discover some hidden treasure were we capable of seeing beyond the surface. Faces are never exactly similar, each has some trait peculiar to itself; so, minds are very different, and have inclinatians and qualities, which at least in this aspect, give them, as it were, a different being.

What we say of nature may also be extended to grace; there is no one who does not receive some special favor, who has not some knowledge, some good sentiment, some holy affection of which others are deprived, and which adorns some good quality that shines only in him. Thus we see that some incline to humility, others to obedience, others to meekness, one prefers abstinence, another prayer, another charity, and what is still more wonderful is, that in the exercise of the same virtue towards which two persons feel attracted, for example, charity, one will have most attraction to one action of this virtue, as the pardoning of injuries; another to visit the sick and help the poor: so true is it that each has something capable of raising him above others, which we can see, or at least presume, and which may aid us in esteeming him and humbling ourselves. There are few, says Lipomanus, on whom God has not conferred some signal favor with which they can render great service to Jesus Christ, and His Church: this he confirms by the example of the women who aided Moses in the fabrication of the Tabernacle, by spinning the curtains which covered it. The robe of the Spouse, that is the Church, is of gold, but it is fringed with various colors, that is to say, the just have all graces, but with variety; they differ among themselves because they possess different degrees, and use them in different ways: the sheep of Jacob were all sheep, but some were speckled; among the ten thousand sheep a rich citizen of Lycanda, in Armenia, presented to the Emperor Justinian, some were black, some white, some yellow, some red, and others diversified in various other manners. St. Gregory the Great has well said: "All is not given to one, lest the multitude of gifts should inspire pride, and cause him to fall; some are given to one, which you do not receive, and some are given you that are refused to him in order that, considering in his heart the good which you have and he has not, he may in his heart prefer you to himself; and that you, considering in what you are inferior to him, may esteem him more than yourself, that thus all may practise what is written: Let each esteem all others as his superiors, seeing in them gifts which he has not." He afterwards shows that St. Peter surpassed St. Paul in innocence, and that St. Paul surpassed St. Peter in wisdom, and he adds: "What climate is with reference to fruits, the Saints are in the production of virtues and the practice of good works: the elect always regard in others that in which others are superior to them, to humble themselves and exalt others; while the reprobate fix their eyes on that in which others are inferior to them, and console themselves by preferring themselves to others." Let us then always regard in others the gifts which they have, and we have not, to the end that, seeing them elevated above us by perfections of which we are void, we may at least increase in humility. The great St. Anthony regarded himself as the least of all—he found in every one some virtue to praise and imitate. The proud Pharisee, on the contrary, passed all the time of his prayer in praising himself, in recounting his good works, and expatiating on sins of which he believed himself guiltless, and laid to the charge of the Publican, who was humbly praying in the temple.

IV. Further, a man may reasonably place himself beneath others, whatever sins they may commit, by thinking that God has not favored them with the graces He has bestowed on him, and that if he had, they would have made a better use of them. Wo to thee, Corozain, wo to thee, Bethsaida, for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles done in thee, they had long since done penance in sack-cloth and ashes. Hence, St. Francis, notwithstanding his eminent sanctity, thought and said that he was the greatest sinner in the world. And St. Paul, the model of perfect men, says of himself: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief, because I am the most wicked. Elsewhere the same Apostle says: To me, the least of all the Saints, is given this grace; the least of all Saints, that is, the least of all the faithful, and, according to the force of the Greek word, the smallest of the small. In the same Epistle he calls himself an abortion, and he adds: "I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God;" he had always his own sins before his eyes; he forgot those of others; he fixed his eyes upon their virtues, and was blind to his own. In a similar spirit, St. Ignatius, the martyr, wrote to the Magnesians: "Though I am a prisoner for Jesus Christ, yet I do not compare myself to any of you who are free." He says to the faithful of Ephesus: "I know who I am; I know myself well; I am Ignatius, the least of all." At the end of his letter, he says: "I recommend to you the Church of Antioch, which I leave because I have been summoned to Rome, laden with chains for Jesus Christ, and the least of the faithful there." St. Catherine of Sienna esteemed herself the greatest sinner in the world; she believed herself to be the cause of all the evils that happened on earth, because she knew that God punishes by temporal afflictions not only those who commit sins but sometimes others: thus the vanity of David was punished by the death of seventy thousand of his subjects, whom the pestilence mowed down in three days. Behold what the thoughts of the Saints were; behold the opinions they had of themselves, and the reasons which inclined them to think in such a manner.

V. Let us force ourselves to imitate them; far stronger are these reasons for us who are not as perfect as the Saints, and who have, therefore, much more reason to humble ourselves. Leaning on these truths, each Religious can well attribute to his own faults the afflictions and calamities which befall the house in which he is, and the Order of which he is a member. If you say that others commit greater faults, I answer: Suppose they do? you may be certain that God will not leave their faults unpunished, but will chastise them by some means either in this world or the next. We may regard ourselves as the most wicked of our race, we may even place ourselves beneath beasts, which never offend God, but continually do His will, while man is so often rebellious to Him. We may even rank ourselves below the demons, since they are of a more excellent nature than we; they had less graces, and they were damned for one mortal sin I will conclude by citing these remarkable words of St. Bernard: "If we knew truly what we are before God, what degree we hold in His estimation, we would range ourselves as our merit entitles us, neither sinking too low nor rising too high, but as this degree is unknown to us, and as each is ignorant as to whether he is worthy of love or hatred, the safest and most just way is to take the lowest place, to the end that God may afterwards invite us to mount higher, instead of making us descend with shame from an honorable seat into which we may have intruded ourselves. There is no danger in seeking the lowest place, but there is great risk in elevating yourself ever so little above your deserts, or preferring yourself in your heart to a single one, who, perhaps, is your equal, or even your superior in virtue. If you pass under a door, you may stoop as much as you please, but if you elevate yourself, no matter how little, you may break your head. It is the same in spiritual things, there is nothing to fear in humiliations, but the least elevation rashly hazarded, is very dangerous, and even terrible. Hence, O man, compare not thyself with those who are higher or lower; compare not thyself with any one, for how knowest thou whether the greatest sinner may not one day surpass thee in virtue, if indeed he do not already surpass thee in the designs of God? Therefore does Our Lord wish that when we sit down, we take not merely a medium place, but the least and the lowest: Sit in the lowest place, says He, place yourself beneath all others; beware, I say, not of preferring yourself to them, but of equalling yourself to them. And though our rank may not always permit us to take the lowest place, yet in our hearts we should regard every one as better than we, and superior to us, as St. Paul counsels, and as all the Saints have practised."