Humility is a quality of the wise who have learned from life that no one can save himself. For years and years we can maintain the illusion that life's blessings are my dessert and my due. Only when some crisis hits do our minds get put to confusion, and our self-reliance crumbles to dust. We need God. We need each other.
The only way to get out of the turning treadmill of our sins is to let God save us. Every effort to do it on our own, to earn God's love, to rid ourselves of slanted desires, ultimately fails without God's grace.
Grace is a true gift. We cannot take it from God's hands, like plucking an apple from a tree. We must receive Grace as a gift. We must wait until providence ripens the fruits and drops it in our lap, good measure and flowing over.
Humility is human openness to God's Grace.
Humility is our willingness to be acted upon by God the gardener, planted, pruned, watered, and cherished. We can't make ourselves humble by hitting our head against the wall of our own willfulness, striking ourselves with penitential blows. Instead, humility signifies our surrender, as God takes away our hostile weapons and picks us up as children in need of healing and love.
Only then, by humbling ourselves, letting go, surrendering to God's love, can we grow beyond our limitations. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled; those who try to go it on their own will fail. Those who humble themselves will be exalted; those who surrender to God will be lifted up as beloved sons and daughters.
Benedict's teaching on humility points out the milestones along the way of following Christ.
The only way to get out of the turning treadmill of our sins is to let God save us. Every effort to do it on our own, to earn God's love, to rid ourselves of slanted desires, ultimately fails without God's grace.
Grace is a true gift. We cannot take it from God's hands, like plucking an apple from a tree. We must receive Grace as a gift. We must wait until providence ripens the fruits and drops it in our lap, good measure and flowing over.
Humility is human openness to God's Grace.
Humility is our willingness to be acted upon by God the gardener, planted, pruned, watered, and cherished. We can't make ourselves humble by hitting our head against the wall of our own willfulness, striking ourselves with penitential blows. Instead, humility signifies our surrender, as God takes away our hostile weapons and picks us up as children in need of healing and love.
Only then, by humbling ourselves, letting go, surrendering to God's love, can we grow beyond our limitations. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled; those who try to go it on their own will fail. Those who humble themselves will be exalted; those who surrender to God will be lifted up as beloved sons and daughters.
Benedict's teaching on humility points out the milestones along the way of following Christ.
