An Unlikely Pairing: Humility and Magnanimity
In today’s first reading from Sirach we read, “Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.” Another translation [RSV] reads, “The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favor in the sight of the Lord.” Consequently, if we desire to gain the favor of the Lord – which I think we all desire! – the measure of greatness we achieve in our lives must be commensurately tempered with humility. In other words, humility is the remedy for vainglorious pride.
In the New Testament Letter of St. James he writes, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Pride – the ‘queen’ of all vices – keeps us from knowing and loving God, and experiencing the joy and fulness of life in the Holy Spirit. But, the good news is that humility wipes away pride, making us fitting vessels to receive God’s grace. This all-important truth should prompt us to ask, “What then is genuine humility? and “How do I become more humble?”
Many of us are familiar with the classic Litany of Humility, commonly attributed to Cardinal Merry del Val. The litany is a very powerful and challenging prayer. Following the pattern of this classic litany, Father Joseph Hagan, O.P., with the help of a few of his brother friars, has composed a similar, new litany incorporating the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. Fr. Hagan explains:
Thomas fundamentally roots humility in a true knowledge of reality, of one’s strengths and weaknesses. He details humility’s opposition both to pride, the queen of all vices, and indirectly to vainglory, pride’s first lieutenant. He also identifies the pitfalls of false humility. And unknown to many, Thomas links humility with magnanimity, that virtue which propels us to real greatness. Magnanimity keeps humility from turning us into doormats.
Magnanimity is the virtue that “makes a man deem himself worthy of great things in consideration of the gifts he holds from God…” (Summa Q129, A3, 4). Seemingly in opposition to each other, magnanimity and humility are actually complementary. It is the humble person who recognizes and accepts the gifts of God to accomplish great things. It is counterintuitve, but true: the door to true greatness is opened by humility. One has only to ponder our Lord Jesus emptying and humbling himself to become man, suffer and die on the cross. Through his great humility came the salvation of the world, the defeat of the devil and victory over death.
I invite you to reverently and reflectively pray this litany. May it serve to free us from any inclination to false humilty – a ‘doormat’ spirituality, and draw us closer to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord who humbled himself to become one of us in all things but sin.
God bless,
+Deacon Dave
A Thomistic Litany of Humility
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, teach me.
From all pride and its effects, deliver me, Jesus.
From coveting greatness for its own sake or to excess,
From contempt of You and Your law,
From a puffed-up self-image,
From claiming to be a self-made man,
From ingratitude for Your gifts,
From thinking that I have earned Your gifts by my effort alone,
From boasting of having what I do not have,
From excusing my faults while judging others,
From wishing to be the sole possessor of the skills I have,
From setting myself before others,
From all vainglory, deliver me, Jesus.
From craving praise for its own sake,
From looking for flattery,
From withholding glory from You,
From showing off to the harm of my neighbor,
From presumption and false self-confidence,
From boastfulness,
From hypocrisy,
From the excessive need to be fashionable,
From obstinacy and contention,
From disobedience,
From all false humility, deliver me, Jesus.
From forfeiting my dignity as a child of God,
From burying the talents that You gave me,
From an unreasonable fear of failure,
From avoiding my true vocation,
From despair at my weakness,
In the ways of humility, teach me, Jesus.
To know my limits and my strengths,
To acknowledge the depravity of my past sins,
To acclaim You as the author of all the good I do,
To put my confidence in You,
To be subject to You and Your Church,
To be subject to others for Your sake,
To revere Your presence in others,
To rejoice in Your gifts in others, even the gifts unseen,
To do great things by Your help and for Your glory, strengthen me, Jesus.
To seek greatness in heavenly things and lasting virtue,
To do my best even when unnoticed,
To put my share of Your gifts at Your service,
To be neither puffed up by honor nor downcast by shame,
To do penance for my sins and those of others,
Above all, to strive to love You with all my being,
And to love my neighbor as myself,
In Your name, I pray.
Amen.