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Understanding Christian Humility

Humility is a supernatural virtue that allows us to accurately assess ourselves and live according to God's will. It counters our innate tendency towards pride and self-importance. Humility was exemplified by Jesus Christ and is the foundation of Christian life. While sometimes misunderstood as a weakness, humility actually requires courage. It keeps us aware of our limited freedom and dependence on God for both natural and supernatural goods. As we progress spiritually, humility leads us to attribute all good to God and take responsibility for our own sins.

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Kurtis D. Welton
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155 views1 page

Understanding Christian Humility

Humility is a supernatural virtue that allows us to accurately assess ourselves and live according to God's will. It counters our innate tendency towards pride and self-importance. Humility was exemplified by Jesus Christ and is the foundation of Christian life. While sometimes misunderstood as a weakness, humility actually requires courage. It keeps us aware of our limited freedom and dependence on God for both natural and supernatural goods. As we progress spiritually, humility leads us to attribute all good to God and take responsibility for our own sins.

Uploaded by

Kurtis D. Welton
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

What is Humility?

Humility is that supernatural virtue which, through the knowledge of


God and of self that it imparts, enables us to estimate ourselves at our true
worth and to live, accordingly, in complete submission to the will of God.
Through it we are enabled to control that exaggerated sense of self-
importance which is so deeply rooted in fallen human nature. This virtue is
uniquely Christian, something quite unknown among the pagans, for whom
the term connotes something weak, vile, abject. As a matter of fact, humility
is the indispensable foundation of all Christian life, and this truth God wished
especially to impress upon us by the Incarnation, when He "emptied himself,
taking the nature of a slave ... humbled himself, becoming obedient to death,
even to death on a cross" (Phil. 2:7-8). Christ's teaching confirmed this
stronger influence of His example; for, lest we merely admire His humility
while fearing or hesitating to imitate it, He said to all: "Learn from me, for I
am meek and humble of heart" (Matt. 11:29).

This virtue is frequently misunderstood even by good Christians. There


is nothing weak or spineless about humility; its practice requires great
courage. Properly speaking, it is part of the cardinal virtue of temperance
(which see), whose task it is to moderate the disordered inclinations of the
appetites. Humility bridles that innate tendency we all have to estimate and
evaluate ourselves as greater than we are. This is the vice of pride, which is
the root of every sin. Humility, rooted in justice and truth, keeps us in our
place. It keeps us clearly aware of the limited nature of our human freedom
and the all-embracing rights of God over all He has created.

Clarifying for us the meaning of our entire dependence on God even in


the natural order, humility becomes perfected when we become increasingly
aware of our supreme and absolute dependence on the mercy of God in the
order of grace. It inclines us, as we advance in true holiness, to attribute all
good we find in ourselves (natural as well as supernatural) to the Divine
Goodness, and all evil, or sin, to ourselves. It leads us truly to despise
ourselves, to forget ourselves, to work solely for the accomplishment of
God's holy will.

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