August 25
Humility Of The Incarnate Word
Preparation. - Nothing is better adapted to render us humble than the examples of our divine Model. Wherefore we shall consider, first, how far our divine Saviour abased Himself, and secondly, how much we should humble ourselves after His example. We shall then resolve daily to combat our desire of esteem, and calmly accept contradiction and confusion, in order to please Him who, for our sake, “emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave” (Phil. 2. 7).
I. How Far The Divine Word Abased Himself
The eternal Word could have assumed the angelic nature and appeared on earth as an angel sent from heaven. This would already have been an incomprehensible humiliation - the divine Creator to become a creature, the Infinite to lower Himself down to the finite! That He who is immense and boundless should circumscribe Himself in a limited being, were it even in a seraph, how inconceivable the abasement!
What ought we to say on seeing Him become man? Man is less than the angel, and has been so deeply degraded by sin. Nevertheless the only-begotten Son of God does not hesitate to assume our nature, and, although He could have come into the world as a perfect man, like Adam in the earthly paradise, He chose rather to pass through man’s different ages, not even excepting childhood; this seems to be the fullness of abjection for Him.
But even this was not enough. He could have made His appearance on earth as the child of a king, of a queen in the midst of a splendid court and the rejoicings of the whole kingdom. But no, He is born of a poor, unknown Virgin, near an obscure town, in an abandoned grotto, in the deep silence of the night. What a prodigy of humility!
But this is not all; He could have assumed only the nobler part of our nature, the soul; but why clothe Himself with our vile clay, our body? Why glory in this by dictating to St. John these astonishing words: “And the Word was made flesh” (John 1. 14)? It is because He wished to humble Himself to the lowest depths: “He emptied Himself.” There is nothing more despicable than nothingness; and yet the Incarnate Word descended still lower, and how? By assuming the appearance of a sinner, by becoming a curse for our sake, that is, by embracing all the maledictions and punishments deserved by sinful mankind. “He was made a curse for us” (Gal. 3. 13). O profound abasement, that should forever cure our pride!
In fact, how can we, at the sight of a God taking the lowest place among us, still pretend to rise above others, to glory in our talents, good qualities and virtues, as if the honor of a disciple of Jesus did not consist in becoming with Him the most humble and the last of all? O Incarnate Word, enable me to understand this wholesome doctrine and to put it into practice.
II. We Ought To Humble Ourselves, Like Jesus
Adam and Eve prevaricated in the hope of becoming as gods, as Satan had falsely promised them. Their pride caused our ruin. To redeem us, the eternal Word wished to humble Himself by descending to the abyss into which we were plunged. As a charitable physician, He put on our humiliations, sanctified and deified them, and made of them a remedy for us, bitter indeed, but sweetened by His loving example, for He was the first to take it by becoming man, by His birth in a stable, His flight into Egypt, and by laboring like a poor workman in the house of Nazareth.
As much as Jesus abased Himself, so much also we ought to abase ourselves with Him. He clothed Himself with the weakness of childhood, to teach us not to disdain the evangelical Childhood. For in the spiritual life we are always as mere children; we always need to be instructed, led, directed and strengthened by grace, and by the means the Catholic Church offers to all. Humility should cause us always to live like children, that is, in the spirit of obedience, submission and mistrust of self, that is befitting children. We ought to banish from our heart and our conduct resistance to superiors, attachment to our own views, boasting, conceit, presumption, envy, malice and all the inclination opposed to Him who said: “Unless you become like little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 18. 3).
Let us examine whether our sentiments are those of the humble. Are we docile, condescending, quick to forgive, slow in feeling offended, in getting angry? Do we shun the faults opposed to Christian childhood, such as, duplicity, insubordination, sensitiveness, harshness, ambitious views?
O Jesus, if the very apostles, the princes of Thy Church, had to be children by their humility, how much more are we bound to be humble, who are obliged to obey them! Wherefore grant me, first, the light I need to know and despise myself; and secondly, the courage to recite the Gloria Patri every time men apply a remedy to my pride, and thus render me like unto Thee and Thy holy Mother, the most humble of creatures.
