“Pride is not opposite of shame but its source” -Uncle Iroh

Hey guys. Joseph here. I have seen a number of posts on New Year’s resolutions or the reasons that we should not make resolutions this year, and, honestly, in the words of Robin in Young Justice, I’m whelmed. Not over-whelmed, not under-whelmed. Just…whelmed. (Yes, I know that the word whelmed actually means under-whelmed. Don’t @ me.) But I’m not exactly surprised at the lack of motivation or the boasting that we see online. We, as a culture, have lost sight of many virtues. During this (and every) New Year, I think it most appropriate to highlight our lagging humility and magnanimity. (My hope in future posts is to call to mind virtues such as perseverance, constancy, prudence, gratitude, and temperance, but these two are a good start).

We have lost track of humility to such an extent that even some prayers for humility and common quotes on humility mistake it for something else. Now, I really do think that something like the Litany of Humility can be a very helpful prayer for everyone. I have benefited greatly from the prayer. But technically speaking, it is worded in such a way that, in correcting one extreme—pride—it goes too far in the other extreme—approaching self-castigation and false humility. The desire to be praised, for instance, is a good thing for the vainglorious to avoid, and as we all tend to vainly desire glory, it's not a bad thing to pray that God delivers us from excessive love of praise. We should, however, desire to do things that are truly praiseworthy, ourselves imitating the praiseworthy deeds of the saints. And if someone does praise us for following the will of God, we can rejoice in God’s will working through us. Provided, of course, that we do not lose sight of how our ability to do the will of God is itself His gift, we can rejoice in His gift working in us. Similarly, a desire to be esteemed, to be recognized as being worthy of imitation, can be excessive. But even St. Paul tells us to be imitators of him as he is an imitator of Christ. It is good to so live our lives that other people hold us in high esteem for the right reasons, and we can rejoice when people imitate our faith. If, by our actions, God worked through us to lead another to move towards holiness in word and deed, that is something to rejoice in!

Because I want to pick a fight with more than just the pious, let me take a swing at C.S. Lewis, too. Lewis’ definition of humility is “not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.” While not wrong—the humble will think of herself less than the proud—this definition points at an effect of humility, not humility itself.
Also, St. Bernadette Soubirous has the fantastic quote (that I have never seen translated to English, for some reason), “It takes many humiliations to make just a little humility” (Il faut beaucoup d'humiliations pour faire un peu d'humilité). Now, my girl Bernadette got it right, but still did not offer a good definition. To make this perfectly clear, humiliation and humility are not the same thing. Humiliation is an emotion: a kind of sorrow or fear at the apparent evil of another seeing me as less than I wanted them to see. Like every emotion, humiliation is amoral, but like every emotion, it can be a sign to us of places where we still need to grow. Humiliation is a sign that I am still proud, and therefore ashamed of my weakness. True humility can look at one’s weaknesses and accept them as God’s strength (2 Cor. 12:10).

“So Joseph, you want to tear down all these perspectives on humility as insufficient. Seems like a pretty proud thing to do. What would you put in their place, tough guy?” I’m glad you asked. Humility is a virtue by which we know our own limits and do not extend ourselves beyond those limits in word (boasting) or in deed (striving). The humble, therefore, can acknowledge her own genuine strengths and gifts, and can even advocate for herself (If you want more on this, the guys discussed it in Episode 28). She knows who she is and where she is strong, i.e. what strength God has given her in nature and in grace. But the humble can also look at her weaknesses honestly and admit when she needs help, when the strength she has been given or has gained is insufficient for the task. Most of all, she can admit that she can do nothing without the grace of Christ who strengthens her.

The problem when seeking humility (at least when we are succeeding in seeking humility) is that we can take it too far. Far too often we think too small (the vice is called pusillanimity) and strive only for the scraps which we can easily obtain rather than the feast that is still within our grasp. Sometimes this small-heartedness disguises itself as false humility, but the result is that we become bitter and incapable of rejoicing in the great deeds of others. We feel insecure, and in our insecurity try to minimize the blessings of others when we should build them up (See the episode on “Envy”).

This is where the virtue of magnanimity comes in. Magnanimity strives for the heights, strives to do the greatest deeds that we are capable of. While humility sets the limits, magnanimity aims to reach them. While humility says, “I can only do great things with God’s grace,” magnanimity recognizes that, with God’s grace, I can do great things. Contrary to Mean Girls, the limit does exist, but with these virtues together, we can both recognize that limit, and, by the grace of God, strive to fulfill it.

We are not made for comfort but for greatness, and if we strive for that greatness, we no longer need to ground others to feel full ourselves. We were made to be sons and daughters in the Son of God. We were made to sing in the company of the heavenly hosts. We were made to soar together to the heights.

Author: Joseph