This is the second post in a two part series on the virtue of humility. You can read the first part here.

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus tells us, “learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (11:29). We find examples throughout the four gospels of the humility of Jesus while he walked on this earth. In a lovely book called The Joy of Knowing Christ, Pope Benedict poses the question: what does washing one another’s feet consist in?

Getting to the truth of the matter

He then proceeds to answer it by explaining that in this action of service, which Jesus carries out shortly before his passion, Our Lord is inviting each one of us to come down and learn more about humility and the courage of goodness. Jesus offers us the opportunity to become infected by his humility. All this also involves our readiness to accept rejection from others, and still be able to trust in goodness and persevere in carrying it out in our lives.

Jesus doesn’t cower down or succumb to cowardice when communicating with others. In one scene in the Gospel of John, where Jesus is questioned by the high priest about his disciples and his teaching, he is not afraid to give the truth clearly:

“I have said nothing secretly. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me, what I have said to them; they know what I said.” (18:20-21)

One of the officers standing beside Jesus immediately strikes him a blow asking him if this is how to answer the high priest. But Jesus continues to challenge him with the truth of the situation:

“If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” (18:23)

From this we see that true humility does not prevent us from stating clearly the truth of things when we are compelled to. Genuine authentic humility means being fully aware of our strengths and weaknesses, and yet remain open to opportunities for growth.

A lesson in Humility and Love

Elsewhere in the pages of the gospel, we learn about Mary’s humility. In Nazareth she handed over all she had to God, immersing herself in his will so as to fulfil that will perfectly in her life. By bringing her own will and her own desires before God, she teaches us how our prayer should be – full of a humble generosity, trying to see and accept the will of God in the things that happen to us in our own life.

St John Paul II wrote that before God and His revelation, it is not so much a question of understanding with our limited reason, but rather a question of loving. God uses Our Lady as an example of someone who stands at the centre of those inscrutable ways and unsearchable judgements of God. She conforms to them in the dim light of faith and accepts fully with a ready heart everything that is decreed in the divine plan. Mary is the embodiment of true love and true humility.

Time to lighten up?

Another lesson we can learn about humility is how important it is to have a sense of humour. Too many times we are quick to take offence and quick to defend our honour - all because we believe that we deserve all the glory. When we march the way of pride we generally abandon humour and instead become cynical or satiric or focus on knocking others. Pride shrivels up laughter and joy, and spreads bitterness and sarcasm instead. 

Pride distorts our view of reality. We feel too indispensable to take a break from our important and urgent work and make time to chat with other people about their things. We have taken ourselves and our projects way too seriously to laugh at ourselves - especially if something goes wrong. We might think we are gods, when in reality we’re only human. We’ll be unable to face up to our limits and vulnerabilities if we can’t develop a sense of humour. Humble people are able to offer us the gift of laughter because they see and accept fully their strengths and limitations and don’t take themselves too seriously.

Growing from our mistakes

Perhaps the biggest lesson we can learn from humility is that we will always have to work harder at being more patient with ourselves. When we find that we are judging ourselves or someone else harshly, we can do well to replace that negative judgement with a positive thought or action. Recognise instead that we have made a mistake, but we will make an effort to learn from that and will try to do something differently the next time. People trust us more when we can admit that we made a mistake; that we are fallible. It is also good to remind ourselves often that we are not superior to anyone, and we don’t have all the answers. In this way we are able to help people find the space to learn more about humility themselves and grow in this virtue. After all, we are all in this together.

Let us ask the two great teachers of humility Jesus and his mother to increase this virtue within us every day.