Paul applies the traditional biblical teaching on humility to the life of the Christian community. The apostle has in mind both these possibilities, and his words target both the presumption of the mind and the ambition of the will. However, in transmitting the traditional biblical teaching on humility, St.
Paul gives a motivation for this virtue that is partly new and original. The decisive concept that Paul introduces in his discourse on humility is the concept of truth. God loves the humble because the humble person lives in accord with truth: God punishes pride because pride, even more than arrogance, is a lie. In fact, everything that is not humble in a person is a lie. This explains why Greek philosophers, who were familiar with and extolled almost all the other virtues, did not know about humility.
Greek philosophers were unaware of the two cornerstones that would have allowed them to associate humility with truth: The idea of creation is the basis for the certainty that all that is good and beautiful in human beings comes from God, without exception. The biblical idea of sin is the basis for the certainty that all that is evil, in the moral sense, comes from human beings, from their freedom, from themselves.
The biblical person is moved to humility by both the good and the evil that he or she discovers within. Paul repeats the exhortation again in v. By humbling himself, a human being comes closer to the truth. John 1 Jn 1: He gives his grace to the humble because only the humble person is capable of recognizing grace. Teresa of Avila wrote,.
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I was wondering once what Our Lord so dearly loved this virtue of humility; and all of a sudden—without, I believe, my having previously thought of it—the following reason came into my mind: The apostle does not leave things vague or superficial for us regarding this truth about ourselves.
If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? There is only one thing that I have not received, one thing that is completely mine, and that is sin. I know and experience that it comes from me, that it finds its source in me, or in any case in human nature and the in the world, not in God.
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On the other hand, everything else—including the fact of recognizing that sin comes from me—is from God. This is the solid ground at which humility aims!
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It is precisely the sincere and peaceful conviction that by ourselves, we are nothing, we can think nothing, we can do nothing. This is not the situation just for some people but a misfortune for all of us. The apostle himself confesses what he discovered when he went down into the depths of his heart.
I discovered that sin dwells in me. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me? At the end of our journey of interior descent, then, we do not discover humility in ourselves but pride.
Having discovered what lies at the end of this journey, or even only having glimpsed it from afar through the word of God, is a great grace. It brings us a new peace, like a person in wartime who discovers that under his home, without even having to leave it, there is a secure shelter that is absolutely impregnable to bombings. A great spiritual teacher, St. Truly a soul cannot have a better awareness in this world than to perceive its own nothingness and to stay in its own cell.
We need to do what some very timid little creatures do who never leave the entrance of their hole so as to be able to reenter it quickly at the first sign of trouble.
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There is a great secret hidden in this advice, a mysterious truth that is experienced when we test it. These meditations will leave the reader who uses them from the beginning of Lent free to turn, during Passion Week and Holy Week, to the Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ. Read more Read less. Kindle Cloud Reader Read instantly in your browser. Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1.
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Daily Meditations Archives - Center for Action and Contemplation
Scroll down to read the most recent post. Need assistance with this form? A Revolutionary Matter Monday, December 17, Contemplation is beyond the normal consciousness of the mind, granting access to the mystery, known only by love. Here, the normal activities of the human personality come to rest, in order to hear what has remained unheard and to see what has been hidden or veiled. Far more than a meditative practice or a temporary respite from worldly concerns, contemplation revolutionizes conventional attitudes and roles in order to transform the foundation upon which life is lived.
And to illuminate the hidden teaching of love inscribed in our souls. Contemplation is the heart of the matter because it changes consciousness and thus transforms how we enter into communion with God, with ourselves, with the moment. Without the contemplative mind, all our talk about and action for social change and justice can actually do more harm than good.