On True and False Humble-Mindedness (Part 2)
The humble person is incapable of malice and hatred: he has no enemies. If anyone among people causes him offense, he sees in that person an instrument of God’s justice or providence.
The humble person surrenders himself wholly to the will of God.
The humble person lives not by his own life, but by God.
The humble person is a stranger to self-reliance, and therefore he unceasingly seeks the help of God and unceasingly abides in prayer.
A fruit-laden branch bends toward the earth, weighed down by the abundance and heaviness of its fruit. A barren branch grows upward, multiplying its fruitless shoots.
A soul rich in Gospel virtues sinks deeper and deeper into humility, and in the depths of that sea finds precious pearls: the gifts of the Spirit.
Pride is a sure mark of an empty person, a slave of the passions, the mark of a soul to which the teaching of Christ has found no access whatsoever.
Do not judge a person by his outward appearance; do not conclude from his appearance that he is proud or humble. “Do not judge by outward appearances,” but “by their fruits you shall know them” (Jn. 7:24; Mt. 7:16). The Lord commanded us to know people from their actions, their conduct, and the consequences that flow from their actions.
“I know your pride and the wickedness of your heart,” (1Sam. 17:28) David’s kinsman said to him; but God testified of David: “I have found David my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him” (Ps. 88:21). “Man does not see as God sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart” (1Sam. 16:7).
Blind judges often declare a hypocrite and a base flatterer to be humble: yet he is an abyss of vainglory.
On the contrary, to these ignorant judges the man who does not seek praise and rewards from people, and therefore does not grovel before people, appears proud—yet he is a true servant of God; he has sensed the glory of God, which is revealed only to the humble, has sensed the stench of human glory, and has averted from it both the eyes and the sense of smell of his soul.
What does it mean to believe? one great servant of God was asked. He replied: “To believe means to abide in humility and mercy”.539.[1]
Humility hopes in God—not in itself and not in people: and therefore in its conduct it is simple, direct, firm, and majestic. The sons of the world, who are blinded, call this pride.
Humility assigns no value to earthly goods; in its eyes—God is great, the Gospel is great. It strives toward them, not deigning to grant corruption and vanity even attention or a glance. The sons of corruption and ministers of vanity call this holy indifference to decay and vainness pride.
There is a holy bow that comes from humility, from reverence for one’s neighbor, from reverence for the image of God, from reverence for Christ in one’s neighbor. And there is a vicious bow, a self-serving bow, a bow that is simultaneously flattering and man-hating, a bow opposed to God and abhorrent to Him: this is what Satan asked of the God-man, offering in return all the kingdoms of the world and their glory (Lk. 4:7).
How many there are, even now, who bow down in order to gain earthly advantages! Those to whom they bow praise their humility.
Be attentive, observe: does the one who bows before you bow out of respect for a person, out of feelings of love and humility? Or does his bow merely flatter your pride and extract some temporal benefit from you?
You who are great in the earth! Look carefully: what grovels before you is vainglory, flattery, and baseness! When they have achieved their goal, they will mock you, they will betray you at the first opportunity. Never pour out your generosity on the vain person: the vain person is as abject before those above him as he is arrogant, insolent, and inhuman toward those below him.540.[2] You will know the vain person by his special aptitude for flattery, for servility, for lying, for all that is base and low.
Pilate was offended by Christ’s silence, which seemed to him proud. “Do you not answer me?” he said. “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” (Jn. 19:10). The Lord explained his silence by pointing to the manifestation of the will of God, of which Pilate—who supposed he was acting on his own—was only a blind instrument. Pilate, from his own pride, was incapable of understanding that before him stood perfect humility: the God incarnate.
A lofty soul—a soul with a heavenly hope and contempt for the corruptible goods of the world—is incapable of petty flattery and servile fawning. You wrongly call this soul proud because it does not satisfy the demands of your passions. Haman! Honor the blessed, God-pleasing pride of Mordecai! That which appears to you as pride is holy humility.541.[3]
Humility is the teaching of the Gospel, the Gospel virtue, the mystical garment of Christ, the mystical power of Christ. God, clothed in humility, appeared to humanity, and whoever among people is clothed in humility becomes Godlike.542.[4]
“If anyone wishes to come after Me,”—holy Humility proclaims—“let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mt. 16:24). Otherwise it is impossible to be a disciple and follower of the One who humbled Himself even to death, even death on a cross. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He is the New Adam, the Progenitor of the holy race of the chosen. Faith in Him inscribes one in the number of the chosen: election is received through holy humility, and sealed by holy love. Amen.