The 25th word in my Lent lexicon is
HUMILITY.
It’s another word with deep Benedictine roots. St Benedict dedicates a whole chapter of the Rule to it. He describes humility the steps on a ladder. The sides of the ladder he describes as our body and soul. This is a hopeful and holistic view. St Benedict is aware that humility requires self-awareness and acceptance of our whole reality, physical, spiritual, emotional.
Already his approach goes some way to untangling the mixed messages we receive about humility that can make it more challenging than it really is. We often think of humility as admitting our failings, and this is definitely part of it. We never think about the other side of humility, acknowledging our gifts and talents.
Humility is not a call to put ourselves down, although it requires that we accept those openly. It’s a call to self-knowledge, which means admitting both our failings and our gifts.
The difference between the two men in today’s gospel is that one has an honest view of himself, while the other has chosen to believe the wholly positive image that he presents to the world. Both had a choice to make, as do we. Jesus points us in the direction of the best path to choose:
“Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Humility is a challenge both because we have to walk away from our false self and because we have to openly accept that our true self is a mixed bag of faults and talents.
Where are you learning humility this Lent?