Humility, Humility, Humility

As we begin the Easter season and mourn the passing of Pope Francis, a particular virtue repeatedly sprang into my mind: the virtue of humility.

Perhaps this is because I live in a community of students and scholars, for whom humility is particularly needed. Or perhaps this virtue came to mind as particularly exemplified by Christ in His passion, and in the governance of Pope Francis. Whatever the motive, we cannot go wrong if we consider the importance of humility and try to implement it in our lives.

Aquinas and Pope Francis

When Saint Thomas Aquinas writes about humility in his Summa Theologicae, he notes that it is a virtue that serves “to temper and restrain the mind, lest it tend to high things immoderately” (ST II-II, q. 161, a. 1). In other words, humility holds us back, as it were, from trying to seek “too much”: be it praise from others, knowledge, power, anything that is a “high” good that we seek too much, particularly if we set it in the place of the Highest Good Himself.

In a May 2024 Wednesday audience, the late Pope expresses the same idea but in simpler language. As he explained:

“This virtue is humility, the great antagonist of the most mortal of sins, namely pride. Whereas pride and arrogance swell the human heart, making us appear to be more than we are, humility restores everything to its correct dimension: we are wonderful creatures, but we are limited, with qualities and flaws. From the beginning, the Bible reminds us that we are dust, and to dust we shall return (cf. Gen 3:19); indeed, “humble” derives from humus, that is, earth. And yet delusions of omnipotence, which are so dangerous, often arise in the human heart, and this does us a great deal of harm.”

First characteristic of humility

The Pope has made several important characteristics of humility. First, to be humble means to recognize the good things that God has given to help build up His kingdom. These are our good qualities or skills.

However, humility reminds us that these good things come from God, and not from us. Hence, as Saint Paul writes to the Corinthians (1 Cor 4:7): “Who confers distinction upon you? What do you possess that you have not received? But if you have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it?”

All that we have is a gift from God, be it our intelligence, our musical skills, our linguistic abilities, anything at all. These are gifts or talents entrusted to us, and it is not a lack of humility to acknowledge that we have them. On the contrary, to not recognize them is to be ungrateful to God and unconcerned about our neighbors.

Second characteristic of humility

The Pope also mentions that humility “restores everything to its correct dimension.” Pride tends to blow everything out of proportion: it “swells the human heart,” as the Pontiff says. When we are filled with pride, our own intellectual skills or musical talents seem much greater than they are. Consequently, if everything good of ours looks bigger, everything of others looks smaller. Their skills and abilities seem less impressive, and their actions, less great.

However, we should also note the “reverse effect” when it comes to defects and shortcomings: precisely because ours become small in our own eyes, those failings of others become bigger and bigger. It is another case of disproportion caused by the distortion of pride.

The cure for pride

This analogy with vision helps us to understanding why pride is such a dangerous vice and why humility is so necessary. Pride distorts the way we see the world, like glasses that invert what we see. If a person wears such glasses for too long, they become used to what they see, as though it were reality.

It is for this reason the Pope says that staring at the starry sky is enough to free ourselves from pride. How so? Again, the analogy of vision helps: seeing the greatness of the heavens and the vastness of creation restores our perception to remind us that we are truly nothing without God.

Humility as the beginning and gateway

Without this restored vision, any attempt at holiness will be futile. However, once we restore the proper perspective we can begin to advance on the path to sanctity and heaven. Humility as a gateway was not lost on Pope Francis as he explained:

“It is the first Beatitude because it is at the base of the ones that follow: indeed, meekness, mercy and purity of heart stem from that inner sense of smallness. Humility is the gateway to all the virtues.
“In the first pages of the Gospels, humility and poverty of spirit seem to be the source of everything . . . God is — so to speak — attracted by Mary’s smallness, which is above all an inner smallness. And he is also attracted by our smallness, when we accept it. She certainly had many other qualities, which appear a few at a time throughout the Gospels’ narrative, but this is the only one that is named: humility.”

As Pope Francis said, “God is attracted by our smallness, when we accept it.” It is not a matter of becoming small, as it were. Indeed, we already are small, incapable of doing anything good on our own without God’s grace to assist us.

What are we when compared at all the people alive in the world right now? When compared to all the people who ever lived? When compared to a single angel, in all its power and glory? When compared to all the angels and saints together? So, what are we, a single small human being, when compared to the greatness of creation, all the creatures of the universe, and God Himself? We are nothing at all.

However, it is precisely our smallness, our nothingness, that attracts God to us. God is a loving father, and just as a father would come to the aid of his small struggling child, so too does God the Father come to assist us. This is on the condition, however, that we accept ourselves for what we are, and try to cooperate with the Author of All Good.

The humility of Pope Francis

As we mourn Pope Francis, we continue to pray for his soul and for ourselves and our conversion. Pope Francis was known for his humility, an attitude seen in the washing of the feet and his attention to the poor and marginalized. Perhaps there is no better way to conclude these thoughts on humility than those with which the late pontiff ended his audience:

“Brothers and sisters, humility is everything. It is what saves us from the Evil One, and from the danger of becoming his accomplices. And humility is the source of peace in the world and in the Church. Where there is no humility, there is war, there is discord, there is division. God has given us an example of [humility] in Jesus and Mary, so that it may be our salvation and happiness. And humility is precisely the way, the path to salvation.”