Pope Benedict, I believe....on pride and humility. “With all lowliness” (Eph 4:2). I would like to reflect a little longer on this because it is a virtue that does not appear on the list of pre-Christian virtues. It is a new virtue, the virtue of the “sequela” of Christ. Let us think of chapter two of the Letter to the Philippians: Christ, being equal to God, humbled himself and accepted the form of a servant, obedient even to the Cross (cf. Phil 2:6-8). This is the path of humility taken by the Son which we must imitate. Following Christ means entering into this journey of humility. The Greek text says tapeinophrosyne (Eph 4:2): Let us not think boastfully of ourselves, let us keep things in proportion. Humility. The opposite of humility is pride, the root of all sin. The pride which is arrogance, which above all claims power, appearance, making a good impression on others, being someone or something, does not seek to please God but to please itself, likes being accepted by others and, let us say, being venerated by others. The “self” is the centre of the world: it is a matter of my proud, all-knowing self. Being Christian means overcoming this original temptation which is also the core of original sin: being like God but without God; to be Christian is to be true, sincere and realistic. Humility is above all truth, living in truth, learning truth, learning that my smallness is actually greatness, because in this way I am important in the great web of God’s history with humanity. Precisely by recognizing that I am a thought of God, in the building of his world, and that I am irreplaceable, in this very way, in my littleness, and only in this way am I great. This is the beginning of being Christian: it is living truth. And only by living truth, the realism of my vocation for others, with others, in the Body of Christ do I live well. Living against the truth is always living poorly. Let us live the truth! Let us learn this realism: not to want to appear, but to want to please God and do what God has conceived of for me, and thus also accept the other. Acceptance of the other, who may perhaps be greater than I, implies this very realism and love of the truth; it implies accepting myself as “a thought of God” just as I am, with my limitations and, in this way my greatness. Accepting myself and accepting the other go hand in hand: only by accepting myself in the vast divine fabric, can I also accept others, who with me form the great symphony of the Church and of Creation. I think the small humiliations that we must contend with day after day are healthy, because they help each one to recognize his own truth and thus to be free from pride that is opposed to the truth and cannot make me either happy or good. By accepting and learning this, by learning to accept my position in the Church, my small service is great in God’s eyes. And this humility itself, this realism, sets us free. If I am arrogant, if I am proud, I always want to please and if I fail to do so I am wretched, I am unhappy and must constantly seek this satisfaction. When on the contrary I am humble, I dispose of the freedom to oppose a prevalent opinion, with thoughts of others, because humility gives me the ability to do so, the freedom of truth. And thus, I would say, we pray the Lord to help us, to help us truly build the community of the Church; may she grow, may we grow in a broad vision of God, of the “we”, and be members of the Body of Christ, thus belonging in unity to the Son of God. Lectio Divina, Paul VI Hall, 23 February 2012
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 01:42:20 +0000
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