Notes: Prov. xvi. 32 — Gal. vi. 3 — S. John xv. 26.

Ifj then, you would see how most mightily He girded this sword to Himself, consider His every action, and you will ever find His lowliness shining forth in all He did. You have seen it already ; recall, then, what has been said, and impress it on your memory. We have also, in the different stages of Christ’s Life, manifold expressions of this grace, to which He was ever faithful and which He continually manifested, even to the hour of His death, and even after death, nay, even after His Ascension. Did He not wash the disciples’ feet at last ? Did He not humble Himself to a point beyond which it is impossible to go, even to the bearing of the Cross? Did He not, after He had entered upon the glory of the Resurrection, call His disciples “brethren” ? “Go,” said He to the Magdalene, “and tell my brethren, I ascend to my Father,” etc.⁹ Did He not, even after His Ascension, speak humbly to Paul, as if to an equal? “Saul, Saul, why persecutest Thou me ?”¹⁰ And did He not, seated on the Throne of His Majesty, represent Himself as about to say, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me ?”¹¹

Not without cause did our Saviour love this virtue so greatly. He knew that, as pride is the root of all sin, so humility is the foundation of all virtue and of salvation. Without this foundation all building is in vain. Do not, therefore, put trust in virginity or poverty, or in any virtue or work, unless lowliness accompany it. Christ, then, made this virtue, and showed how it was to be acquired ; namely, by making Himself to be of no account, and by casting Himself down in His own sight and in the eyes of others, and by the continual performance of lowly actions. Go, then, and do thou likewise, if you wish to obtain lowliness. For humility must take the lead amongst the virtues ; that is, contempt of self, and the practice of menial and lowly works. On this S. Bernard says, “Humility, which results from humiliation, is the foundation of the whole spiritual fabric. Humiliation is as much the way to humility as patience is to peace, or reading to knowledge. If you desire the virtue of lowliness, you must not shun the path of humiliation. For if you cannot bear to be humiliated, you will never advance in lowliness .”¹² And again he says, “You must think humbly of yourself, if you are striving for a higher state ; lest, when raised above your place, you fall beneath it, because you were not firmly established in a true and solid lowliness. And because, except through the path of lowliness, there is no way of attaining to real greatness ; therefore, he who would ascend, must be humiliated by reproof, that he may be exalted by lowliness .”¹³ Therefore, when you see yourself humbled, take it as a good sign, and as a sure token that grace is at hand. For as the heart is lifted up before destruction,¹⁴ so before exaltation there is lowliness. Truly you have read both that God plainly “resists the proud, and gives grace to the lowly .”¹⁵ And a little further on he says, “But it is little to be willing to submit to humiliations which come directly from God¹⁶ unless we learn to do the same when He sends humiliations through the instrumentality of others. Take a wonderful instance of this in the case of holy David, who, when cursed by a servant, did not allow a movement of anger at so great an injury, because a prior movement of grace animated him.¹⁷ What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah ? * a he exclaimed. O truly a man after God’s own heart, who felt more indignant against one who avenges himself, than incensed against one who upbraided him ! Wherefore he can say with a secure conscience, ‘ If I have rendered evil in return for evil/” etc. 8 For the present what has been said about humility will suffice.

Let us return to the consideration of the actions and life of the Lord Jesus our Mirror, as the principal object of our inquiry. And again imagine yourself to be an eye-witness of all that takes place, as I have before exhorted you. Behold that Family, blessed above all others, small in itself, but great in dignity, living in a poor and humble manner. It was Joseph’s delight, as far as age permitted him, to gain what he could at the carpenter’s board. The Blessed Virgin laboured at her needle and distaff. She likewise attended to the duties of the house, which, as you know well, are not slight ; she prepared food for her husband and for her Son, and went through the round of domestic labours, doubtless unassisted by any menial. Pity her, then, because she has to labour thus with her hands; pity, also, the Lord Jesus, for He helped her, sharing her labours as far as He could. For He came, as He Himself said, “not to be ministered to, but to minister .” 4 See Him, then, assisting His Blessed mother, arranging the frugal repast, making the bed for the night’s rest, busied with household work. Behold also the three — Himself, His mother, and Joseph — taking their meals together day by day ; no dainties or luxuries, but poor and homely fare is to be seen upon the board. Regard also their communications ; no vain and idle word is spoken, but their conversation is full of wisdom, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and their mind no less than their body is refreshed. Then, after a little recreation, all retire to prayer, in their separate rooms ; for their house would not be spacious, but a little one. Follow them in spirit into their different chambers, and behold the Lord Jesus, after His evening prayer, composing Himself, night after night, it may be, to sleep on the floor, the few hours of the night which remained, so humbly and in such a poor condition, and as one of the lowest of His creatures. Thus ought you, when you are going to bed, nightly to think of Him in this state. O hidden God ! why do you thus afflict your innocent and sinless body? To spend the night but once in such a way, ought to suffice to redeem the whole world. Boundless love constrained you to do this ; it was because Thou wert very zealous for the lost sheep,¹⁸ eager to bear it upon Thy Shoulders to heavenly pastures. Why shouldst thou, O King of kings, Eternal God, Who suppliedst the needs of all, Who givedst all things abundantly to all, be brought to such a condition as this ? Hast Thou reserved for Thyself this extreme poverty, degradation, and hardship, endured for so long a time, amid watching, sleeping, fasting, eating, and all Thy other actions? Where, then, are those who seek bodily ease, and love curious and useless ornaments? Those who act thus have not been trained in Thy school. Are we, then, wiser than the Master? He taught us by word and example, lowliness, poverty, mortification of the body, and a life of toil Let us, then, follow the Sovereign Master, who neither wills to deceive nor can be deceived. “Having,” in the words of the Apostle, “food and raiment, let us be therewith content,”¹⁹ seeking in those things what is rightly sufficient, and not superfluities. Continue also in the exercise of other virtues, and “give thyself” to spiritual study, and be most careful to persevere in what you begin.

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Footnotes

1. Acts i. 21. ↩

2. S. Luke iii. 23. ↩

3. S. Matt. xiii. 55. ↩

4. Ps. xlv. 4. ↩

5. Ps. lxxxix. 42. ↩

6. S. Matt. xi. 29. ↩

7. S. Matt. xiii. 55. ↩

8. Phil. ii. 7. ↩

9. S. John xx. 17. ↩

10. Acts ix. 4. ↩

11. S. Matt. xxv. 40. ↩

12. S. Bernard, Epist lxxxvii. ↩

13. Id. Serm. xxxiv. in Cant. ↩

14. Prov. xvi. 18. ↩

15. S. James iv. 6. * 2 Sam. xvi. 10. ↩

16. Ps. vii. 4. Serm, xxxiv. in Cant. ↩

17. S. Matt xx. 28. ↩

18. S. Luke xv. ↩

19. i Tim. vi. 8. ↩