Humility

I’ve been reading Fr. Michael Casey OCSO’s book “A Guide to Living in the Truth” about St. Benedict’s teaching on humility. I’m finding it nourishing on a predominately human and spiritual level (two out of the four dimensions of formation). Fr. Casey really brings out the genius of Benedict’s centuries old but perennial teaching for our day. In the first chapter, he lays out some of the most common ‘reservations’ persons might have about growth in humility. Why would anyone have reservations about growth in a virtue as foundational as humility? Well, he points out that these reservations are really, what he calls, “latent resistance.” I found this term helpful because this is often the term used in a therapeutic relationship where a client puts up obstacles to going into a sensitive topic. And this is really what these reservations are: resistances we have towards what we think humility implies. It is a certain unattractive weakness that we’re sure we are supposed to move away from.

            I’ll give an example from Fr. Casey’s book. He points out how some may believe that a focus on becoming humble can lead to becoming scrupulous or overly introspective. This can lead the person down a rabbit hole of over-analysis and powerlessness to grow in a positive way. We all, to one conscious degree or another, want to grow in a positive way. We all want to feel more confident in who we are, the gifts we have, and how we can benefit the world and those around us. This positive growth and fruitfulness can be really dampened when we start to think of humility in this way. However, this is not an accurate understanding of humility. Fr. Casey goes on to say that “humility is truth,” the full truth about who we are. He later writes, “Humility is truth; when opportunity and aptitude coincide, it is humility that impels us to take the risk and act.”

            When I was in high school and my early years of college, I very much operated under this misguided impression of what humility is. It left me anxious, self-deprecating, and powerless to really listen to God’s loving and empowering message about what I was called to. In the past few years, especially since I discovered my call to marriage, I’ve discovered that God always wants us to grow in self-knowledge. And this self-knowledge is about how powerful we can be when we direct our pursuit of virtue toward God’s Glory. It is a both/and of Christ’s “Without me you can do nothing” and St. Paul’s “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”

            What is your understanding of humility? How is it influenced by your understanding of yourself? Are there any wounds in your heart that lead you think of humility as more self-critical deprecating? What do you think of the teaching of humility as truth?