Imagine the Lord Jesus, having completed His twenty-ninth year, having lived in this abject and painful manner all the time, saying to His mother, “The time is come that I should glorify and manifest My Father, and show Myself to the world, and labour for the salvation of souls, for which the Father sent Me forth. Be of good courage, therefore, good mother, for I shall quickly return to you ;” and the Master of lowliness, kneeling down, prayed for a blessing on His departure. And she likewise knelt down, and embracing Him with tears, said most tenderly, “My Blessed Son, go, with a Divine blessing, from your home ; be mindful of me, and remember that you soon return to me.” Thus, then, did Jesus, having reverently taken leave of His parents, His mother and foster-father Joseph, set out from Nazareth toward Jerusalem, by the way which led to Jordan, where John was baptizing, at a place which was a considerable distance from Jerusalem. And the Lord of all the earth performed the journey alone, for as yet He had no disciples. Gaze upon Him, remembering the Divine Presence; see the solitary wayfarer, barefooted, travel-worn, fatigued by so long a journey, and pity Him from your heart. O Lord, whither goest Thou ? Art Thou not, indeed, higher than all the kings of the earth ? O Lord, where, then, are your attendants ? where are the ‘barons, the counts, the captains, the warriors, the horses, the elephants, the camels, the equipages, the couriers, and all the rest, which should form Thy train ? Where is Thy suite, and where are the guards who keep off the populace from approaching too near Thy Sacred Presence, as earthly monarchs are wont to have, and other great personages ? Where are the sounds of trumpets, the strains of music, the royal banners? Where are the forerunners, whose business it is to prepare for the fitting reception and entertainment of princes ? Where are all the pomps and honours, which surround us, worms of earth, on such occasions ? O Lord, are not the heavens and the earth full of Thy glory ; how is it, then, that Thou art become thus inglorious ? Art not Thou He to whom ” thousand thousands ministered” in Thy kingdom,1 “and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before” Thee ? Why, then, dost Thou thus journey unattended, and barefooted ? Ah, yes ! I divine the cause : Thou art not now in Thy kingdom ; for Thy kingdom is not in this world. Thou hast emptied Thyself,2 taking the form of a servant, not of a king. Thou art made as one of us, “a stranger and sojourner, as all our fathers were.”3 Thou art become a servant, that we may become kings. For Thou hast come to conduct us to Thine own kingdom, by laying bare before our eyes the way by which we can ascend thither. Why, then, do we neglect it ? Why do we not follow Thee ? Why do we not humble ourselves ? Wherefore do we pant after and grasp at pomps and honours, vain and transient? Certainly because our kingdom is of this world ; nor do we at all regard ourselves as pilgrims here, and therefore we incur all these evils. O vain children of men, why do we prefer the shadow to the substance, the perishing to the solid and lasting, the temporal to the eternal, and eagerly run after it? Surely, O good Lord, if we did but realize the truth, that we are strangers and pilgrims, we should quickly follow Thee, taking of these visible possessions only what is necessary, lest we should be retarded in running after the odour of Thy ointments.4 For we should be free from every burden, and should, regarding these transitory things as already past, easily despise them. The Lord Jesus, then, thus humbly travels day after day, till He arrives at Jordan. And when He had come thither, He found John there baptizing sinners, and a great crowd of people who had gathered round him to hear his preaching ; for they believed him to be the Christ Then the Lord Jesus said to him, “I ask thee to baptize Me with these.” But John beholding Him, and in spirit recognizing Him, was afraid, and with reverence answered, “Lord, I have need to be baptized of Thee.”5 To whom the Lord Jesus replied, “Suffer it to be so now ; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” Do not reveal this now, nor make Me known, for My time is not yet come; but baptize Me. Now is the time of lowliness, and therefore will I fulfil all lowliness.
Attend also to lowliness yourself, for this is a fitting place to treat of it, and you ought to know, according to the commentary on this passage, that lowliness has three degrees. The first is, to subject ourselves to those who are above us, and not to prefer ourselves to our equals. The second is, to subject ourselves to our equals, and not to prefer ourselves to our inferiors. The third and highest is, to subject ourselves to inferiors, and this is the degree Christ practised on this occasion, and therefore He fulfilled all lowliness.
You see how Christ increased in the exercise of humility. For in the lowliness which we are here considering, He subjected Himself to His own servant, made Himself of no account, and justified and magnified His servant Now in comparison of that which has gone before, see how His lowliness has advanced. For hitherto, He has conversed humbly with men, as a useless and mean person, but now He would appear also as a sinner. For John preached to sinners the baptism of repentance, and baptized them ; and the Lord Jesus, amongst them, and before them all, willed to be baptized. Thus S. Bernard speaks on this matter: “He came amongst the rabble to the baptism of John. He came as one of the people — He Who was alone without sin ! Who would ever think that He was the Son of God ? Who would ever believe Him to be the Lord of Majesty? Indeed Thou hast greatly humbled Thyself, O Lord; too much dost Thou hide Thyself, yet Thou canst not hide Thyself from John .”6 And the same maybe said of His Circumcision, for there also He willed to appear as a sinner; but here the lowliness is greater, for that was in private, this in public. But was there not a risk in all this, lest, when He was greatly desirous to go forth and preach, He should be spumed as a sinner Himself? Yet, notwithstanding this, He would not give up lowliness, but as the Master of that virtue He would most profoundly abase Himself. He willed even to wear the appearance of what He was not, for the sake of the abjection and contempt which would be thereby brought upon Him, having always in view our instruction : we will, on the contrary, to appear what we are not, for our own praise and glorification. If there is any scrap of goodness, we love to make a display of it ; but our defects we conceal, though we are ever so sinful and wicked. Is this our way of being lowly ? Hear upon this not me, but S. Bernard, who says, “There is a lowliness which charity quickens and inflames ; and there is a lowliness which truth produces in us, yet which has no heat The one indeed consists in knowledge, the other in affection. For if you examine yourself by the light of truth, and look steadily and truthfully into yourself, and judge, unbiassed by flattery, I doubt not but that you will be humbled, and will become more vile in your own eyes, from a knowledge of the truth about yourself ; although you may not yet, perhaps, bear to be so regarded by others. By this you will be humbled indeed by the force of truth, but not at all as yet by the infusion of charity. For were you as much affected by the love of that truth which so transparently and truthfully showed you to yourself, as you were illuminated by its rays, you would without doubt desire that all should form the same opinion of you, which you know is held by the truth within yourself. I say, however, as far as is expedient, for it is not at all times advisable to make everything known to every one which you know about yourself; for by the charity itself of truth, and by the truth of charity, we are forbidden to make known what may hurt another. But leaving such a case out of the question, if influenced only by personal considerations, you keep pent up within yourself the judgment of truth, what doubt can there be that you love the truth less than you love yourself, since you prefer to it your own interest or honour ?” And further he adds 4 ‘If you are already humbled by that necessary humility, which the truth which searcheth the hearts and veins instils into the senses of the watchful soul, exercise the will, and make a virtue of a necessity, for there is no virtue where there is no consent of the will. If, then, you are unwilling to appear outwardly otherwise than you find yourself inwardly, the will has acted. If not, fear lest it may be said of you, ‘He flattereth himself in his own sight until his abominable sin be found out .’7 ‘ Divers weights and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord/ a What then ? Is it that you depreciate yourself when you secretly weigh yourself with the scales of truth, and valuing yourself more highly outwardly, you then sell yourself to us at a higher price than truth itself prescribed. Fear Godand shrink from so base an action, as to extol yourself with the will, at the very time when truth in the understanding abases you. For this is to resist the truth, this is to fight against God. But do you rather agree with God, and submit your will to the truth, not only submit to the truth but love it. 1 Shall not/ says the Psalmist,8 my soul be subject to God ? ’9 But it is a slight thing to be subject to God, unless you are also subject to all mankind for God’s sake, both to those who bear rule, and to those who are set over you by them. I say more, be subject to equals, be subject also to inferiors, ‘ for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness .’10 Go also to your inferior if you would be perfect in righteousness, defer to him, stoop humbly to those less than yourself .”11 Thus S. Bernard teaches. He says also, “Who is righteous but the humble? For then, when the Lord stooped to the hands of His servant, the Baptist who trembled because of His Majesty, He said, 4 Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,’12 thus identifying the summit of perfect righteousness with the perfection of lowliness. Therefore the just man is the humble.” Thus far S. Bernard.13 But this righteousness in the humble appears in this: that he renders to every one his due ; he does not take that which is another’s, but he gives the honour to God, and retains the vileness for himself. You will understand this more clearly, if you consider the injustice of the proud, who attributes to himself the gifts of the Lord. Of him S. Bernard thus speaks : “As evils are wont to arise from great goods, when we, exalted by the possession of them, use them as if they were not given to us, and give not the glory to God ; so we who seemed to be greatest on account of the grace which we had received, through our want of a right acknowledgment of those gifts, are accounted least before God. But I spare you. I have used the milder terms, ‘greatest’ and ‘least,’ but I felt the words to be inadequate. I veiled the real truth ; I will now lay it bare. I should have said ‘ very good ’ and ‘ very wicked.’ For truly and undoubtedly, any one is so much the more wicked^^” in proportion as he has advanced and attributes that advancement to himself. For this is the worst offence. But if any one should say, ‘ Be this far from you, I admit that by the grace of God I am what I am,’14 yet still eagerly desires glory from the grace which he has received, is he not a thief and a robber? Let such a one hear the words, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. 115 What can be more wicked than for a servant to usurp to himself the glory of his Lord?”16 Hitherto S. Bernard. You see, then, how the perfection of righteousness consists in lowliness, and neither robs God of His honour, nor ascribes to itself what it ought not. And certainly it is not hurtful to our neighbour. For the humble does not judge his neighbour, nor prefer himself to him, but esteems himself less than all, and chooses for himself the lowest place. Concerning whom S. Bernard again thus speaks : “How knowest thou, 0 man, but that the one whom perhaps thou countest to be the most vile and miserable of all, whose life thou abhorrest as most sinful and notoriously foul, and therefore thinkest that he ought to be spumed, not only when compared with thyself, who art perhaps confident that thou livest soberly, justly, and piously, but also when compared with all other wicked men, as the most abandoned of all ; how knowest thou, I say, but that he shall become, by the change of the right hand of the Most High, better than both thee and them, nay, perhaps is so already in the sight of God? God therefore wills us to choose not the middle place, nor even the place last but one, not even one of the lowest places; but ‘go/ saith He, ‘and sit down in the lowest room /17 that you may sit alone, the very last of all, and not presume, I do not say, to prefer yourself, but even to compare yourself to any one .”18 Thus far S. Bernard.
In many places the same S. Bernard commends this virtue of humility. He says, “A great mother and lofty virtue is humility, which earns for us that which teaching cannot give ; is worthy to obtain what cannot be obtained by learning ; is worthy to conceive from the Word and by the Word, that which it cannot itself explain in its own words. Why is this? Not because of merit ; but because it seemed good in the sight of the Father of the Word, the Spouse of the soul, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is over all God, blessed for ever .”19 So again, “Humility is the virtue through which, with the truest knowledge of himself, any one counts himself vile .”20 Elsewhere he says, “Humility is the only virtue which makes reparation to wounded love .”21 Again he says, “Humility alone is not wont to boast, has no mind to presume, and has no habit of contention. He who is truly humble does not contend in judgment, nor pretend to be righteous. 1,22 Humility, forsooth, reconciles us to God, and renders us pleasing in His sight Again S. Bernard says, “The virtue of humility is ever intimately associated with Divine Grace.”23 Indeed, in order to preserve lowliness, Divine piety is accustomed to ordain, that the more any one advances, the less does he think himself to have advanced. For even to the highest degree of the spiritual life, whatever advance any one may have made, something of the imperfection of the lowest stage will remain, so that it will seem to him that he has not even reached that.
Again S. Bernard says, “Lovely is the combination of virginity and lowliness, and no slight delight to God is that soul in which humility commends virginity, and virginity adorns humility. How greatly, then, ought she to be reverenced, in whom fecundity exalts humility, and child-bearing consecrates virginity. You hear that she is a virgin, you hear that she is humble. If you cannot copy the virginity of the humble, copy the humility of the virgin. Praiseworthy is the virtue of virginity ; but humility is the more necessary. The former is of counsel, the latter of precept. To the one you are invited, to the other you are obliged. Of the former it is said,24 He that is able to receive it, let him receive it ; ’ 8 of the latter,25 Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.’ 4 The one, then, is remunerated ; the other is exacted. You can, in short, be saved without virginity ; you cannot without humility. Humility, I say, can please, which deplores the loss of virginity. Without humility, I dare to say, not even the virginity of Mary would have been pleasing. Upon whom, saith He, shall My Spirit rest, except upon the humble and peaceful ?26 If Mary, then, had not been humble, the Holy Spirit would not have rested upon her. If upon her He had not rested, she would not have conceived. For how without Him, could she have conceived by Him ? It is manifest, therefore, that in order that she might conceive of the Holy Ghost, as she asserts, the Lord had27 regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden/ 2 rather than her virginity. Whence it follows, that her humility without doubt was the means of rendering her virginity pleasing to God. What dost thou say, proud virgin ? Mary ignores her virginity, and glories in her lowliness; and you, forgetful of lowliness, flatter yourself upon your virginity. He28 regarded,’ saith she, ‘ the lowliness of His handmaiden.’ But who was she? A virgin holy, a virgin sober, a virgin devout Art thou more chaste than she? Art thou more devout? Or is thy modesty more acceptable than Mary’s chastity? Is it, indeed, so great that it will suffice without lowliness, without which hers could not do ? In short, the more honourable thou art from this singular gift of chastity, so much the greater injury dost thou inflict on thyself, when thou dost sully the fairness of thy life by the admission of pride.” 3 Again, “Charity, chastity, and lowliness are of no colour, but not of no beauty; rather their beauty must be rare, as they possess the power of delighting the Divine gaze. What is more lovely than chastity, which makes a clean thing out of one unclean from his birth, a friend out of an enemy, an angel, in short, out of a man ? An angel and a man differ, indeed, from each other but in felicity, not in virtue. And if the chastity of the one is more blissful, that of the latter is more the sign of strength. It is chastity alone which, in this place and time of mortality, represents in a sort of way the state of immortality and glory. Chastity alone, amid the nuptial ceremonies of this lower world, claims for itself the character of that blessed land, in which they neither marry nor are given in marriage, affording already in some sense a foretaste of that heavenly conversation. Frail, in the meanwhile, is the vessel which we bear about with us, in which often we are in danger; yet chastity holds it in a state of sanctification, like the sweet balsam, which preserves the embalmed bodies from corruption. It controls the senses and restrains the members of the body, lest ease dissolve, or desires contaminate, or pleasures of the flesh render them putrescent” And then again, “Whatever be the surpassing loveliness with which chastity appears adorned, yet without charity it has neither value nor merit Nor is this wonderful For what good can we have without charity ? Faith ? No, not if it should remove mountains. Knowledge ? No, not if it should speak with the tongues of angels. Martyrdom? No, not if, he says, I should give my body to be burned. Neither without it is any good accepted, nor with it is the least good rejected. Chastity without charity is a lamp without oil. Take away the oil, and the light will not shine. Take away charity, chastity will no longer please.” And further on, in the middle of the letter, “Now, of the three which we proposed, humility alone shall be handled, which is so necessary to the two aforesaid virtues, that without it they do not even seem to be virtues. That chastity or charity may be obtained, humility must render the soul worthy of them. For29 God giveth grace to the lowly.’ 1 Humility also preserves the virtues which have been gained; for the Spirit will not rest except on the peaceful and humble.30 Humility also perfects the virtues ; for virtue is made perfect in weakness — that is, in humility. It overcomes that enemy of every grace and source of all sin, pride ; and propels from itself and from every other virtue its arrogant tyranny. For it is rather from other goods that pride increases its strength. But humility alone of all virtues, as a sort of fortress and tower, makes a strong resistance to its malice, and opposes presumption.” Thus far S. Bernard. You find, then, many beautiful remarks concerning humility in the writings of S. Bernard, who was himself most truthful and most humble. See, also, what he says of other virtues, that you may know their nature and practise them. But now let us return to the Baptism of our Lord. As soon as John discovered the will of the Lord, he yielded, and baptized Him.
Now, therefore, consider Him attentively. For the Lord of Majesty unclothes Himself, like any ordinary mortal, and is immersed in the cold water, at a very inclement season ; for love of us, He works our salvation, instituting the Sacrament of Baptism, and washing away the guilt of our sins. Thus He espoused to Himself the Church as a whole, and each individual soul. For in Baptism, when we profess our faith, we are truly espoused to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prophet says, in His person, “I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness .”31 Whence this is a very solemn act, and a mystery of great service and benefit to man. And therefore the Church sings, “To-day is the Church joined to her heavenly Bridegroom, for in Jordan Christ hath washed away her sins .”32 And in this most illustrious week, the whole Trinity in a singular manner manifested itself, “for the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and lighted upon Him ; and the voice of the Father resounded, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased .”33 But in this place S. Bernard says, “i Hear ye Him,34 4 He saith ; behold, O Lord Jesus, begin then now to speak; you have permission from your Father. How long, 0 Power of God and Wisdom of God, as one weak and senseless, wilt Thou remain hidden among the people? How long, O noble King and King of Heaven, wilt Thou suffer Thyself, the carpenter’s Son, to be so reputed? For according to the testimony of the Evangelist S. Luke,35 Thou wert still supposed to be the son of Joseph. O humility of Christ, how dost Thou confound the pride of my vanity ! My knowledge is most trifling, yet I flatter myself that I know much, and cannot keep my tongue still. For without modesty and discretion, I push myself forward boastfully, ever ready to speak, swift to teach, slow to hear. And Christ all this time was silent, and hid Himself ; and why? Had he to fear vainglory? No. How could He fear vainglory, who is the true glory of the Father? He did, however, indeed fear it, but not for Himself. He feared it for us, knowing how much ground there was to make us afraid. For us He took precautions, and us He thus taught ; He was silent with His mouth, but He instructed by His actions ; what He afterwards taught in words, He first proclaimed by His example,36 Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.’ 2 For about the infancy of our Lord I hear but little, but from that time to this His thirtieth year I find nothing. But now no longer can He lie hid, because He is so openly manifested by His Father.”37 Thus far S. Bernard. It was his authority which I adduced in a former chapter, from which you learn how the Lord Jesus remained humbly silent for our instruction. You see, then, how everywhere you scent the fragrance of His humility. Of it I am ever drawn to speak, for it is a magnificent virtue, and we need it much ; and it is so much the more earnestly to be sought, and affectionately loved, as our Lord in all His actions so signally gave Himself to the practice of it
← Chapter 15 · Contents · Chapter 17 →
Footnotes
-
Dan. vii. ia ↩
-
Phil. ii. 7. ↩
-
Ps. xxxix. 12. ↩
-
Cant L 3. ↩
-
S. Matt. iii. 14, 15. ↩
-
S. Bernard, Serm. I in Epiph. ↩
-
Ps. xxxvi. 2. ↩
-
Prov. xx. io. ↩
-
Ps. lxii. I. V. ↩
-
S. Matt. iii. 15. ↩
-
Serm. 47 in Cant. ↩
-
S. Matt. iii. 15. ↩
-
Serm. 47 in Cant. ↩
-
I Cor. xiv. io. ↩
-
S. Luke xix. 22. ↩
-
Serm. 84 in Cant. ↩
-
S. Luke xiv. ia ↩
-
Serm. 37 in Cant. ↩
-
Serm. 85 in Cant ↩
-
De Grad. Humil ↩
-
Serm. 2 in Nat Dom. ↩
-
De Episc. ↩
-
Serm. 4, super Missus est. ↩
-
S. Matt. xix. 12. ↩
-
S. Matt, xviii. 3. ↩
-
Is. lxvi. 2. ↩
-
S. Luke i. 48. ↩
-
Serm. I, super Missus est. ↩
-
S. James iv. 6. ↩
-
Is. lxvL 2. ↩
-
Hos. ii. 20. ↩
-
Ant. for Benedictus, Epiphany. ↩
-
S. Matt. iii. 16, 17 ; S. Mark ↩
-
S. Matt xvii. 5 ↩
-
S. Luke iii. 23. ↩
-
S. Matt xi. 29. ↩
-
Semi. 1 in Epiph. ↩