Humility.

St. Augustine has been called “the teacher of humility”. For he knew from experience human weakness. Therefore, his whole life he fought against the Pelagians who diminished the importance of grace and God’s help. He likes to return to the text of St. Matthew (11:29): ‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest for your soul. To this, he adds: “The whole life of Christ at the earth, which He took upon Himself, was a moral school for men, in which he expounded above all his humility to follow.” St. Basil writes similarly, enumerating particulars. The Savior was born of a poor virgin in a manger, hid in Egypt as weak and persecuted, gave baptized as one of the sinners, and fled from those who wanted to call him king and glorify him. And at the end of his life, he washes the feet of his disciples to show his last will.

The saints call humility the root of all other virtues. For all of them, as St. Gregory, the Great says, without humility soon wither and do not endure. St. Augustine very rigorously judges the classical examples of the virtues that were then given to children in schools. If one despised wealth out of haughtiness, what virtue is that? Diogenes, who with his dirty feet soiled the carpets of Plato and claimed that he “trampled on Plato’s pride,” trampled on pride with pride of another kind. The school of virtues is like the building of a house or the growth of a tree. It is not enough, according to St. Augustine, merely to aim high. The taller the house we build, the deeper we must dig the foundation. The higher the crown is to be built up, the deeper the tree must sink its roots into the ground. The foundation and root of perfection is humility.

Human size and limitation.
Often a misunderstanding arises from the fact that we do not have humility. In common parlance, we call humble one who does not think much of himself, who does not boast in speech. We are understandably aware that acting too humble is not normal and that too “humble” speech cannot be sincere. Why, for example, should an artist confess, when he creates a work of art that has cost him a lot of work, by saying it’s not worth anything, that others could do it? better, etc. St. Teresa repeated very emphatically that humility is truth. A humble man is therefore one who is right about himself and judges. What, then, is the Christian to think of himself?  A great one. For every man is the image and crown of God of creation. Even if you are the last beggar in society, writes St. Basil, wearing only rags, never forget that you are the image of God, the son of the great Father! Every man has a place in the world and a mission that God has appointed for him. He is to be aware of his responsibility, and he is to be respected and esteemed.

And yet, man’s greatness is limited. A Jewish proverb says: “Everyone thinks he does not have enough money, but that he has enough sense.” Man is not God, so all know and control everything. However, the individual does not even have the whole perfection of man. There are billions of us, and in each is only a tiny amount of the greatness that appears in all mankind. The first stage of humility, then, is a natural sound judgment of one’s real aptitudes and of one’s real position. The opposite is the manifestation of the simple-mindedness which naively flaunted. We tend to grandiosity, a bit of all of us. It is good for us to notice what we’re shaking so that we don’t stray from the truth. It becomes, especially in talking about experiences and merits, that no one can verify. The knowledge of one’s sin and one’s weakness. Every rational person is aware of his or her own limitations
man. But a deeper and more penetrating knowledge of self is required of the Christian. The revelation of sin reveals it to us. We know that sin fundamentally changes our relationship with God, our neighbor, and the whole world. In the confession of guilt at the beginning of Mass, we pray: “I have sinned by thoughts, words-by my words, by my deeds, and by my neglect of what is good, my guilt, my fault, my exceeding great fault.”
But in daily life, in our relations to others, in our evaluation of events, we have forgotten this confession altogether. We do not reckon with this fact, thus we depart fundamentally from truth and humility. We know that the first cause of evil in the world is sin. If we forget this, we put all the blame on others. The second truth of faith that leads us to humility is the awareness of our weakness. It is not, of course, her unnatural timidity that seizes the schoolboy or the inexperienced singer before a performance. Here it is, on the contrary, well to take courage and believe that something we can do it. For that is the foundation of success. “Weak is only one, who has lost faith in himself, and small is he who has little aim.” This is a different, more important weakness. That was the point of St. Augustine’s in his disputes with the Pelagians. We are called to a supernatural goal, to holiness, to the realization of the kingdom of God. That is where our true success in life is to be directed. Nothing of this, of course, we can do without God’s grace. That is why the humble person prays for it constantly, and ever more deeply he is penetrated by the knowledge that he is “without God’s blessing vain human exertion.”

In light of these two supernatural truths, the man also looks back on his life and his deeds. The sense of truth demands that he not distort them. The artist is glad that he has produced good work. The father is satisfied that he has raised good children and is proud of them. He who has seemingly failed in everything is rightly rejoiced that he has preserved at least a clear conscience. The humble man, therefore, has always something for which he thanks, God. He knows himself, he knows God, knows the world. “The desire for humility is the desire for truth.” (St. Augustine). St. Augustine has been called “the teacher of humility”. For he knew from experience human weakness. Therefore, his whole life he fought against the Pelagians who diminished the importance of grace and God’s help. He likes to return to the text of St. Matthew (11:29): ‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest for your soul. To this, he adds: “The whole life of Christ at the earth, which He took upon Himself, was a moral school for men, in which he expounded above all his humility to follow.” St. Basil writes similarly, enumerating particulars. The Savior was born of a poor virgin in a manger, hid in Egypt as weak and persecuted, gave baptized as one of the sinners, and fled from those who wanted to call him king and glorify him. And at the end of his life, he washes the feet of his disciples to show his last will.