Living the gospel way: Seeking the virtue of humility

Applying what we learn in formation

Carol Lieser OFS

Summer, 2015

Our stepwise approach

We learned how to develop a formation meeting for our professed last year.

Many excellent suggestions were made in the evaluation tool you all filled out and today’s workshop comes from those suggestions.

Today, we will examine how to apply what we learn in formation and will select as one example the topic of humility.

Ongoing formation, in meetings and on your own, aims to help us:

Rule 4 to listen to and meditate on the Word of God: “going from Gospel to life and life to Gospel.”

To reflect on events in the church and in society in light of the faith, and with the help of the documents of the teaching Church

To discern and deepen our vocation by studying the writings of St. Francis, St. Clare and other Franciscan authors.

Remember from last year:

Each Franciscan has responsibility for his or her own formation. General Constitution Art 37.3

The brothers and sisters are responsible for their own formation, developing in an ever more perfect way the vocation received from the Lord.

What you get in your formation meetings is just the beginning.

It is your job to go home and consider how to apply that month’s teachings.

Objectives, (things that happen after the fraternity meeting on Humility)

Review what humility is. Describe what the dignity of being human

means. Discuss the understanding of ourselves as a

creation of God and our worth purely because we are His children.

Link our worth and dignity to the spiritual principle of humility.

Discuss how we can become humble people and how that virtue is essential to our Franciscan vocation.

We begin

By understanding what humility is. Where does it come from What does it look like Why is humility important to us? And by exploring what we must do to be a

humble person. How St Francis and other saints viewed

humility

Definition of humility Look in the Catechism and turn to the

glossary.

Humility is the virtue by which a Christian acknowledges that God is the author of all good.

Humility avoids inordinate ambition or pride and provides the foundation for turning to God in prayer.

Group discussion

What does it mean to say: God is the author of all good?

Who is God? What words do we use to describe Him?

God is known by what He IS and God is known by what He is NOT.

In the beginning, God created….. God is different than us: we were created; God

has His Being in Himself and through Himself by virtue of His own perfection of Essence. God is Being Itself, the Absolute Being.

God is I AM WHO I AM: He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega. God is the absolute being: and must contain in Himself all the perfections of being..

God is good!

God is good! The early church fathers write: “God did not create the world because He needed it, but in order to pour out His benefits .. to us.” Vatican II teaches God is infinite in every perfection and that in creation He communicates His goodness to creation.

God is goodness itself. God is the ALL GOOD. Luke 18:19 None is good but God alone.

Why did God create us? Discussion groups.

God created us so that…..

Augustine writes: “we are, because He is” and St. Thomas says: “God does not act for his own profit but for his Goodness. God created us for His glorification and in order to bestow good on all people”. We are created for happiness, but this is secondary to our purpose to glorify God.

We are meant to mirror the Divine Perfection. We are an image of the Holy Trinity and when endowed with saving grace we have a likeness to the Trinity.

God’s Goodness is the reason for His communication of Being to all creatures.

The moral goodness of God Moral goodness or holiness is freedom from sin and

purity of moral behavior. The ultimate basis of freedom from sin and of purity of morals lies in the agreement of the will with the moral norm.

In the mass, we hear God praised as the Holy One. “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory.”

God bestows on us countless gifts in the natural and supernatural order and thus permits us to participate in His goodness (Matthew 6: 26. John 3:16)

We are called to be like God: Mt 5:48 “Be therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. “

God gave us our dignity, our worth We have our dignity and have our worth,

solely because God created us We have established that He created us

from His Goodness, And that He created us to be good, to

live as an image of Him.

Discussion: Is this all we need?

We were created by God out of His goodness for our own goodness.

Is that all we need to achieve our purpose?

Yet …. We must have faith: a gift which we receive

supernaturally at the moment of receiving the sacrament of Baptism.

The evangelist John in John 20:31: “These are written that you may believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in believing you may have life in His name.”

You must hear His invitation to come and follow him. You must agree to follow Him. If you dismiss the

word of God’s command, you will not receive his word of Grace. The road to faith passes through obedience to the call of Jesus. (Bonhoeffer, Call to Discipleship) Grace is a gift from the Church’s treasury that aids us on our journey.

We must be like Christ

And further, in Philippians 2: 5-11: “Let this mind be in you which was also in

Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men and in habit found as a man, he humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the Cross.”

We must believe

In the goodness of God In our own innate goodness In the salvation that Christ died to give us

us That we must participate in our faith

through our actions, seeking to imitate Christ.

And in the idea that a way to achieve our perfection, comes by “emptying ourselves and becoming like Christ,” humble and serving the will of the Father.

The path to humility….

The first three on the last slide may be easier for us as they are given to us by the Father.

If we are baptized we were given the gifts of faith (and hope and charity).

But we must work to become humble “Faith without works is dead” as the

apostle Paul tells us.

Humility

Teresa of Avila wrote: our spiritual journey must include humility. Humility comes through knowing ourselves.

“learn to understand yourselves and take pity upon yourselves.” “Self knowledge is incumbent upon the soul.” “Humility must always be doing its work. Without humility all will be lost.”

What does Teresa mean by these words?

St Francis and humility.

All the glory of St Francis depends on his “having made himself little,” that is, on his humility.

A Franciscan view of humility means

1. lowliness, littleness or poverty and 2. the recognition that one has of one’s own littleness. This second meaning is what we mean

when we understand the virtue of humility

The virtue of humility

Has a special statute: it is possessed by those who think they do not have it and it is not possessed by those who think they have it.

Saint Bernard wrote: the true humble person wants to be regarded as vile, not proclaimed humble.

A test by Friar Masseo from the Little Flowers Friar Masseo wanted to test how humble

Francis was and encountering him asked, “Why to you, why to you, why to you? St Francis answers: “what is it that you want to say?” Friar Masseo said, “I say why does the whole world follow you and every person seems to want to see you, to hear you, and to obey you? You are not a good looking man in body, you are not of great learning, your are not noble, why then does everyone want to follow you?

Francis’ response to Friar Masseo

Hearing this, St. Francis, altogether overjoyed in spirit…. Turned to Friar Masseo and said, “Do you want to know why me? Do you want to know why me? Do you want to know why the whole world follows me? This I learned that the most holy eyes of God did not see among sinners any one more vile, more insufficient or a greater sinner than me.” People are attracted to this humility of St.

Francis

Humility from its theological nature In the Bible acts of humility are found that do not

come from man, from the consideration of his misery or his own sin, but which have as their sole reason God and His holiness. Isaiah revealed this when he said, “I am a man of unclean lips” in the face of the sudden manifestation of the glory and holiness of God in the temple. (Isaiah 6:5 ff); Also Peter’s cry to Jesus after the miraculous catch: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man!” Luke 5:8

This is essential holiness: when we become conscious of ourselves in the presence of God.

Francis said: “What a man is before God, that he is, and nothing more.”

In the Little Flowers

One night Friar Leo wanted to watch from afar what Francis was doing during his night prayer in the forest of La Verna and from a distance he heard him murmur some words for a long time. The next day the Saint called him and after having reproved him for disobeying his order, (to stay away and not listen in) revealed the content of the prayer:

Francis explain what occurred in prayer

You know friar sheep of Jesus Christ, that when I was saying those words that you heard, my soul was shown two lights, one of information and knowledge of myself, the other of information and knowledge of the Creator. When I said, Who are you O most sweet God of mine? Then I was in a light of contemplation, in which I saw the abyss of the infinite goodness and wisdom and power of God; and when I said, Who am I? I was in the light of contemplation, in which I saw the sad depth of my vileness and misery.

Francis always puts distance between himself and God:

In the Canticle of creature he wrote:

‘Most High, Omnipotent Good Lord, to who is owed praise, glory, honor and blessing, from the miserable mortal who is not even worthy of mentioning, (that is of pronouncing his name.)’

St Augustine said this:

Let me know myself and let me know You; let me know myself to humble myself and let me know you to love you.

And so we see the meaning all these saints were professing: self knowledge leads to humility and humility leads to clarity and greater reliance on God, which reveals itself in our Love for God and for others.

In the theological sense, humility is Truth

As Teresa of Avila wrote: “I asked myself one day why the Lord so loves humility and suddenly there came to my mind, without any reflection on my part, that it must be because He is total truth, and humility is truth.

To be humble

Does not mean to be unhappy with oneself or to recognize one’s own misery, or even one’s littleness. It is to look at God before oneself and to measure the abyss that separates the finite from the infinite.

The more one recognizes this, the more one becomes humble.

Then one begins to enjoy one’s own nothingness, because it is thanks to it that a face can be offered to God whose littleness and misery has fascinated the heart of the Trinity from eternity.

Humility as service of love

What fills Francis’ soul with wonder is not God’s greatness but His humility.

In the words of The Praises of God Most High, written by St Francis

You are Holy, You are Strong, You are Triune and One. You are Love, Charity. You are Wisdom. But at a certain point Francis inserts an unheard of: “You are humility!”

God is humility because He is love!

In the face of our free will, God finds himself lacking in a certain capacity. If humans choose, as they have done, to reject His love, He cannot or will not intervene with authority to impose Himself on them. He can or will do nothing but respect their free choice. One can reject him, eliminate Him: He will not defend Himself. He will let them do it.

His way of defending himself and of defending men against their very annihilation will be that of love again and always, eternally. By its nature love created dependence and dependence creates humility.

The key to understanding humility Is love!

One needs little to show off, but one needs a lot to put oneself aside, to cancel oneself.

This is what happened in the Incarnation The visible manifestation of God’s

humility occurs when we contemplate Christ who kneels before His disciples to wash their feet and again when we see Him reduced to the impotence of the cross.

Christ continues to love without ever condemning.

Examples from your life experience For discussion: Can you think of a time when someone

you know exhibited such love that, now in reflecting on these acts, humility had to be the source of this love?

Francis said in a Letter to the Whole Order:

Look Christ humbles himself every day, as when from the royal seat he descended into the womb of the Virgin; every day He himself comes to us in humble appearance; every day He descends from the bosom of the Father on the alter in the hands of the priest.

O sublime humility! O humble sublimity, that the Lord of the universe, God and Son of God, so humiliates himself as to hide Himself for our salvation, under the little appearance of bread! Look brothers, at the humility of God and open your hearts before Him.

And so we are invited to be humble, but what does it mean?

Paul invites us to have the same sentiments of Christ who humbled himself, became man, suffered for us.

Jesus himself invites us when he says: Learn from me, who am gentle and humble in heart (Mtt 11:29)

But where does Jesus fail and fall short and is seen as afar from God? He could say “which of you convict me of sin” yet we know he did not ever sin.

Humility does not consist principally in being little: certainly feeling little could be from an inferiority complex and lead to withdrawal and despair rather than humility.

It is not in feeling little! It is in making oneself little, and not out of some necessity of personal utility, but out of love, to raise others!

Humility is not in being little but rather: Humility does not consist principally in

being little: certainly feeling little could be from an inferiority complex and lead to withdrawal and despair rather than humility.

It is not in feeling little! It is in making oneself little, and not out of some necessity of personal utility, but out of love, to raise others!

Thus Jesus was truly humble

He made himself so little. His humility descends from God and has its supreme model in God, not in man.

Sister Water, the symbol of humility St Francis describes Sister Water as

“useful, humble, precious and chaste.” Water never elevates itself, Never ascends, but always descends to

reach the lowest point. Just as Christ did for us! Consider Christ and the symbol of water

as our model for making ourselves humble.

Jesus’ invitation ‘learn from me who am humble’

Make oneself little out of love, to wash, as he did, the feet of our brothers.

This is a serious choice, especially for Jesus.

Jesus made himself humble, truly little, just as he made himself flesh, that is permanently and to the end.

Jesus chose to belong to the category of the little ones and the humble ones.

The true face of humility:

Service to one another. In Mark, Jesus explains to the disciples

who want to know who is greatest:

If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all Mark 9:35 The last must be the servant of all.

Matthew 20:28 “Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve”

So, how does humility look?

Have you seen humility and what does it look like to you?

Our struggle against pride determines our humility

It is seen by the way we react, externally or internally, when we are contraindicated, corrected, criticized or left aside. We can not kill our own pride, some one must intervene from the outside. This comes in relationship to others!

When it is no longer us who recognizes our defects and wrongs, but others do so; when we are not only capable of telling ourselves the truth, but also gladly let others do so.

How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the one God? John 5:44

Jesus said: I do not seek my own glory! John 8:50

God gives us a “thorn in the flesh”

So we do not rise up in pride, as God gives us an anchor. Like Paul He may send a messenger of Satan to harass us and give us a thorn in the flesh (II Corinthians 12:7)

What is your thorn in the flesh? (A defect, a weakness, a sickness; a persistent and humiliating temptation. )

Francis said that the saints practice the virtues while others of us seek glory only by talking of our virtues.

How to develop the virtue of humility?

What do you think you need to do to develop humility?

Reflections from attendees. Small groups.

Humility consists of: Knowing our selves, first of all Humbly acknowledging that we need help from God Attending the mass; receiving the Sacraments Examining our consciences, especially in the

Confession Reading and study of Sacred Scriptures. Being receptive to what we are called to do Humility is the foundation of prayer and we must

pray to receive it. Prayer must come from a humble and contrite heart. Regularly seeking time away to pray. Sitting before

the Eucharist in adoration “I look at Him and He looks at me.” Listening for His voice.

How must we come to know ourselves?

Accept this truth: We are creatures of God. Created by love and created for goodness and holiness.

We do what God asks us to do! We do not do what makes us feel good in the moment. We are called to a high standard of behavior and obedience to God and His teachings.

Each one of us is unique and special and loved by God for those traits we have.

As you seek to know yourself, rid yourself of unnecessary activities, allowing time to be spent in prayer and especially in contemplation.

We must know ourselves as we are, no matter what flaws we learn about: with our shortcomings, our failures, our challenges,

We should also know our strengths and seek to put them to the service of God.

We are not defined by our appearance, our jobs, our incomes, our possessions but….

Each one of us is unique and special and loved by God for who we are, that is we are creatures that He created and loved from the beginning of time.

Be willing to change what God asks you to change.

What do we do with our self knowledge?

In the end we need to elevate our self knowledge to God in thanksgiving.

We will never succeed in knowing ourselves unless we seek to know God. Let us think of His greatness and come back to our own baseness; by looking at His purity we shall see ourselves.

By meditating on His humility, we shall see how far we are from being humble.

The advantages of coming to know ourselves

As we turn from self towards God, our understanding and our will become nobler and readier to embrace all that is good.

Set your eyes upon Christ, our Good, from Whom we shall learn true humility.

References Admonitions of St Francis. Bonhoeffer, D. The cost of discipleship. Catechism of the Catholic Church, (2nd ed.)1997.

Wash, DC: US Catholic Conference: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa (Dec 13, 2013). Humility as Truth and Service in St Francis of Assisi. Retrieved from zenith.org.

Letter to the whole order by St Francis of Assisi. Little Flowers of St. Francis. Ott, Ludwig. (1960), Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma.

Rockford Ill: Tan Publishers. St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle. The Holy Bible. St Ignatius Press. The Franciscan Rule and the General Constitutions