HEART School of HUMILITY!

Reflections for the fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Zechariah 9:9-10, Romans 8:9, 11-13, & Matthew 11:25-30)

Dioscorus was Greek by nationality but was in Africa for his studies. He was quite intelligent but an over-ambitious youngster. In the beginning of 410, he was soon boarding a ship to see his parents. And before leaving, he sends a strange request to Augustine. He demands a quick reply to a series of questions that he had sent him on the philosophical works of Cicero. He intended not to search for knowledge but to create a good impression and to not appear ignorant or stupid when he faces more intelligent opponents whom he might encounter in his hometown. Augustine is annoyed, rebukes Dioscorus in his letter and speaks of three ways that God constructed for us to reach the truth: “That first way is humility; the second way is humility; and the third way is humility, and as often as you ask, I would say this” (Letter 118, no22).

Perhaps much like Dioscorus, we too need to learn the true meaning of humility to meaningfully pursue truth. And therefore, in today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to the school of humility. He says, “Come to me.. learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart”. This Sunday, therefore, let us enroll as students at this illustrious school of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to learn the meaning and significance of humility in our discipleship.

1. Humility is self-knowledge not self-belittling:

Humility has a number of counterfeits and the most important of them is self-deprecation. We tend to mistake humility to mean lack of self-worth, excessive modesty or shyness. The first lesson from the School of the sacred heart on humility is that the virtue of humility is not a product of a scrupulous psychological self-introspection. Our self-valuation often runs the risk of oscillating between two extremes: too much self-love or too unkind criticism. In our own eyes, we are either the best or the worst! Neither of these self-perceptions can truly inspire humility.

Teresa of Avila writes that humility is to be discovered at the intersection of our self-knowledge and God’s knowledge about us (The Way of Perfection, Ch.10). Our self-awareness when tested through the optic of God, reveals who we truly are and this knowledge inspires humility. A truly humble person, while being aware of his perfections and imperfections, learns to see oneself as God sees him/her. The more we see God, the more we see ourselves; the closer we approach God, the more his light illumines our self-knowledge. Humility is a permanent quest to rediscover oneself at the crossroads of self-knowledge and God’s love, a search that is both liberating and humbling.

2. There is a certain pride in humility:

Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose-Driven Life writes, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others”. Humility inspires us to overcome our self-obsession and shift the focus of our lives to altrui (other). Only a truly humble person can acknowledge one’s dependence on the other. We are social animals (Aristotle) and we attain perfection in our trinitarian relationship with self, world and God. There is nothing shameful about this dependence. It is instead a reason for pride. Jeremiah and Paul insist, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:24, 1 Corinthians 1:31).

Christian pride is not centred on oneself but on our collective dependence on God. The word humility comes from the Latin term ‘humilitas’ meaning small stature. Christianised in France around the 12th Century, the word took came to mean “submission before God”. Etymologically, therefore, humility evokes the relationship between littleness and dependence. Hosea 6:8 rightly reminds us of the purpose of our discipleship, “what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” In today’s Gospel, Jesus acknowledges with pride his dependence on his Father and invites “the burdened little ones” to this same model of relationship. The first reading invites Jerusalem to proudly welcome her King, who arrives humbly riding on an ass. He is the saviour, on whom her hopes for peace and liberation proudly depend.

3. Humility is empowering:

Does humility mean that we need to shun our drive for success, excellence, or perfection? No! True humility does not incapacitate us but empowers us to pursue our God-intended perfection. Teresa of Avila in her Manuscript of Escorial, the first edition of The Way of Perfection interestingly compares our spiritual journey to a game of chess that we play with Christ. Encouraging her Carmelite sisters to play chess (against the rules!), she felt would help them realise that the goal of spiritual life is to “checkmate the Lord”. Just as it requires a lot of practice to master the game of Chess, Teresa says, it takes the practice of three virtues to master spiritual chess: humility, love, and dependence.

Jesus’ invitation “Come to me and take my yoke upon you” is an invitation to a game of chess. Teresa writes, “How quickly, if we practise well, will the divine King surrender Himself to us! After that, he won't be able to slip out of our hands, and he won't even want to”. She also adds, “It is the Queen (piece) which gives the King most trouble in this game and all the other pieces support her. There is no queen who can beat this King as well as humility can; for humility brought Him down from Heaven into the Virgin’s womb and with humility, we can draw Him into our souls by a single hair”. Humility is a strength that can help us ‘checkmate’ God for the one who is humble is also bold with God!

At the School of the Sacred Heart, we learn that true humility is to rediscover our true self, take pride in our dependence on God, and be empowered to “checkmate” the Lord who is ever willing to share his liberating yoke with us.