Of Some Degrees and Steps Whereby to Mount to the Perfection of This Second Degree of Humility

Roe this second degree of humility belongs to the most practical and difficult part of the practice of this virtue, we will divide it as some saints divide it, and make of it four degrees or steps, that thus, little by little, and as it were counting our paces, we may mount to that perfection of humility which this degree requires. The first step is not to desire to be honored and esteemed by men, but rather fly from everything that points to honor and reputation. We have books full of examples of saints who were so far from desiring to be courted and esteemed by the world that they fied from honors and dignities and from all occasions that might bring upon them esteem in the eyes of men, looking upon it as a deadly enemy. Of this the first example is given us by Christ our Redeemer and Master, Who, understanding that they wanted to come and elect Him king for the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes (John vi. 15), fled away, not being Himself in any danger from such high estate, but to give us an example. And, for the same reason, when He manifested the glory of His most holy body to the three disciples in His admirable Transfiguration, He bade them tell no one till after His death and glorious Resurrection (Mark vii. 36). And when He gave sight to the blind and worked other miracles, He charged them to keep it secret, all to give us an example to fly from the honor and esteem of men, for the great danger there is in it of vanity and ruin.

In the chronicles of the order of blessed St. Francis it is told how, when Brother Giles heard of the fall of Brother Elias—who had been Minister General and a great scholar, and was then an apostate and excommunicate because he had taken the side of the emperor, Frederick II, in rebellion against the Church—he, Brother Giles, threw himself on the ground on hearing of these things, and clutched it hard. Being asked why he did that, he answered: “I want to go down as low as I can, since he has fallen from mounting high.” Gerson applies to this effect the fiction of poets about the giant Anteus, son of Earth, who, wrestling with Hercules, every time that he was thrown to earth recovered new strength, and so could not be overcome; but Hercules, taking account of the situation, lifted him up, and so cut off his head. This, says Gerson, is what the devil tries to do with the praises, honors, and esteem of the world, to lift us up, so to make us lose our heads and have the greater fall; therefore the truly humble man casts himself on the earth of his self-knowledge, and therefore dreads and shuns so much anything like being lifted up and esteemed.

The second step, says St. Anselm, is to bear with patience contemptuous treatment at the hands of other people; to take in good part any occasion that offers of your seeming to be undervalued and despised. We are not speaking now of desire of injuries and affronts, and going out of your way to seek them, and delighting and rejoicing in them;

of that we will treat afterwards, as it is a high point of perfection. What we are saying is that at least when occasion offers of something that makes for your discredit, you should bear it with patience, if not with joy, in accordance with that saying of the Wise Man: All that cometh im thy way, although it be very contrary to thy liking and sensuality, take it well, and though it hurt thee, suffer at with humility and patience (Hcclus. ii. 4). This is a very great means for attaining to humility and keeping it. Just as honor and the esteem of men is an occasion for pride and vanity, and therefore the saints fly from it so much, so all that makes for our disparagement and discredit is an excellent means to attain humility, and keep it and grow in it.

St. Lawrence Justinian says that humility is like a brook or stream that in winter rises to a great flood and is low in summer; so humility dwindles away in prosperity, and grows in adversity. Many are the occasions that present themselves to us for this every day, and we shall have fine exercise in humility if we are attentive and carefully on the alert to profit by them. That holy man (A Kempis) well says: “What pleases others shall go forward; what pleases you shall make no way at all. What others say shall be listened to; what you say shall go for nothing. Others shall ask and receive; you shall ask and not obtain. Others shall be great in the mouths of men; of you no account shall be taken. To others this or that business shall be committed; you shall be judged no good for anything. Over this, nature will sometimes repine; but it will be a great point gained if you suffer it in silence.” Let everyone take account of himself and run through the particular occasions that may and commonly do occur, and see how he behaves in them. See how you behave when an order is given you imperiously and peremptorily; see how you take it when they warn or reprove you for some fault; see how you feel when you fancy that the superior has not much confidence in you, but on the contrary is reserved in dealing with you. St. Dorotheus says: Every occasion that offers of this sort, take it as a remedy and medicine to cure and heal your pride, and pray to God for him who offers you this occasion as for the physician of your soul, and be convinced that he who hates these things hates humility. The third step that we have to mount is not to be glad or take any satisfaction when we are praised and thought highly of by men. This is more difficult than the former. St. Augustine says: “Though it is easy to do without praise, and not mind when we are not praised or honored, when that does not come in our way; yet not to be glad and take satisfaction in it when people do praise and show appreciation of us, is very difficult’”—Si cuiquam facile est laude carere dum denegatur, difficile est ea non delectari cum offertur. St. Gregory treats this point very well on those words of Job: If I have looked at the sun when it shone, and the moon when it came out bright, and the heart was glad within me (Job xxxi. 26). St. Gregory says that Job means to say that he did not rejoice nor take any vain satisfaction in the praises and good opinion of men; such is the meaning of looking at the sun when it shines, and the moon when it comes out very bright: it means a man’s looking at the good name and reputation that he has in regard of men and their praises, and delighting and taking satisfaction in that. He goes on to say that there is this difference between the proud and the humble, that the proud rejoice when men praise them and, though the good that they say of them be all a lie, still they rejoice, because they take no account of what they are truly and in the sight of God. All they aim at is being regarded and esteemed by men, and so they rejoice and revel in that, as a man does when he gains the end that he aims at. But when a man who is truly humble of heart sees that they are praising him and thinking and speaking well of him, he then humbles and is ashamed of himself, according to that text of the prophet: Exaltatus autem humiliatus sum nimis (Psalm Ixxxvii. 16)—“When they praised me, I then humbled myself the more, and was in greater shame and fear.” And with reason, for he fears that he may be all the more punished by God for not having the good qualities that he is praised for; or if perchance he has them, he fears lest his reward and recompense be paid in these praises, and they say to him afterwards: Thou hast received in thy lifetime the reward of thy works (Luke xvi. 25). Thus that whence the proud take occasion to flatter their pride and vanity, namely, the praises of men, the same gives occasion to the humble to confound and humble themselves the more. And this, says St. Gregory, is the meaning of the Wise Man, when he says: As silver is proved in the melting pot, and gold in the crucible, so is a man proved in the mouth of him who praises him (Prov. Xxvii. 21). The silver and gold, if it is bad, is consumed in the fire; but if it is good, is clarified and purified the more. So, says the Wise Man, is a man proved by his praises. If, when he is praised and thought highly of, the man is lifted up and grows vain with the praises that fill his ears, he is no good gold or silver, but false metal, since the crucible of the tongue consumes him; but he who on hearing his own praises thence takes occasion to humble himself and be the more ashamed, is gold and silver of the finest, since he is not consumed by the fire of praises, but the more purified and clarified thereby, inasmuch as he is more humble and ashamed of himself. Take this, then, for a sign if you are making progress in virtue and humility or not, since the Holy Ghost gives it to us as such. See if you are annoyed when they praise and value you or if you take pleasure and satisfaction therein, and then you will see whether you are gold or tinsel. We read of our Father Francis Borgia that nothing gave him so much pain as to see himself honored as a saint or servant of God. Someone asked him once why he was so much afflicted thereat, since he neither desired nor contrived it. He answered that he reckoned he should have to give an account to God for it, he being such a different person from what he was taken for, which is just what we have just been saying from St. Gregory. So we should be so well grounded in self-knowledge that the winds of praises and human esteem should have no power to lift us up and draw us out of our nothingness. Rather it is then we should be more ashamed and confounded, seeing how false those praises are, and that there is in us none of that virtue that they praise, nor are we such as the world proclaims us and we ought to be.