There is no one humbler than the Lord Jesus. “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.” Becoming man for us, suffering and dying for us, becoming mere bread and wine for us: in all these we see His humility in dazzling action. The words “humble” and “human” have the same origin, the word humus in Latin meaning the soil of the earth. God formed us from that soil, but we should not consider that to mean we are “just dirt”, because that soil, too, was itself created by the Lord! He created us male and female in His own image and likeness. To be humble, then, means to be of the soil of God and to be like God, just as to be human, male and female, means the same.

Humility has nothing to do with cowering before God in self-loathing. There is nothing of masochism or of the inferiority complex in true humility. Humility is of God! So, what is this divine humility which explains true human humility? St. Paul tells us that, “though He was in the form of God, Jesus did not count equality with God as something to be grasped”, to be jealously guarded. Instead, “He emptied Himself and became a man” with the purpose of dying for us, even on a Cross. So, the first thing we learn about divine humility is that it recognizes its own divinity. Jesus recognizes and accepts that He is in the form of God. Humility begins with accepting the given truth of oneself. We hear an echo of this when Moses heard God say from the burning bush, “I Am Who Am.” Humility is born when I consent to the God-given truth, the objective reality, of who I am. It calmly obeys and rejoices in this truth. Jesus is God. That’s the truth of His being. And He accepts without contention His divine nature and identity. That’s humility. The same is true of the Father and the Holy Spirit.

And because Jesus is “grounded” in who He is as God, in His own divine soil, because He has utter confidence in Himself, He doesn’t have to defend it fearfully from attack. He doesn’t need a “no entry” or “danger” sign around His neck. Neither the jealousy of Satan nor the sin of Adam presents any threat to Him. He simply is God, free, sovereign, unassailable, beyond any attempt by whomsoever to usurp His place, His dignity, His Person, His Truth.

This therefore means that humility in the human being begins with a profound, obedient and confident acceptance of the truth of who I am, of who God has given me to be. It means being at peace with the truth that I am a created son or daughter of God, beloved and endowed with all the gifts of nature and of grace which together form the unique and beautiful human being that God has given me to be. Humility is also to accept that God is God, not I. I am not the creator of who I am or of who God is. The same holds in regard to the person beside me. They are only who they are given to be by God. I am not the other person, and don’t have to be the other person, and they are not me. I don’t need to be jealous of myself, that is, I don’t have to cling to myself and defend myself as if I might evaporate or disappear. I don’t need to draw attention to myself because I am firmly rooted in myself, in my own soil, as I am. I don’t need to respond to others’ expectations of me as if I might somehow fail to be who I am if I don’t do so. Humility means I don’t need to compete with others to prove my own worth. It means I don’t need their applause or approval to survive as who I am. Humility is an unruffled self-possession before God even if I am in sin or am upset or troubled in any way. I can be secure in who I am because I am rooted in God. I stand with Him in that burning bush. His I Am is the bedrock of who I myself am.

But perhaps this idea of humility sounds too smug and is even in danger of pride because it seems self-sufficient. Perhaps it’s too cold and insular.

Well, consider again the humility of Jesus. He not only accepted the truth of his divine identity. He also did something more. St. Paul tells us plainly: “Jesus did not count his divinity as something to be grasped: no, He emptied Himself.” Humility begins with the truth, but it ends in love. The burning core of Christ’s identity, like the burning bush before Moses, is the divine love. But, as St. Paul implies, it is not a love buried away in the depths of Jesus’ person, like some hidden treasure. The nature of divine love is to empty itself out, to pour forth, to issue forth from the heart of God. Think of the Trinity as being like three eternal burning bushes, each one the size of the universe itself. Their flames of love pour back and forth from one Person to the Other. They merge into One but without each one of the Three losing its own contours, its identity, its truth. Well, when Jesus emptied Himself to become man of the Virgin Mary, that blazing fountain of divine love emptied itself into Her, unseen, unperceived, in humble and seminal hiddenness. She became pregnant with the Son by the power of the Spirit and the will of the Father. So, the humility of God is not pent up within the Trinity, but empties itself in eternal love for the human race, first hidden in Mary’s womb, then gradually seeping out of Jesus throughout His public ministry until it can no longer contain itself but bursts out blazing on the Cross, in the Resurrection, in the Ascension and then in the fires of Pentecost. Those fires still burn across history from within the heart of the Church and will, in God’s final revelation, consume the whole of creation when Christ comes again in glory.

Likewise, our human humility is in danger of corruption unless, like the seed, it falls to the ground and dies in love to bear much fruit. By grace, the divine humility in us likewise pours itself out in self-sacrificing love. Humility morphs into agape. Humility means, yes, that I joyfully possess the truth of who God has given me to be, but even more joyfully I pour myself out in the service of God and of others, from those closest to me to those I will only ever know in eternity. And because it is loving, humility will always be practical, respectful, honest, sincere, attentive and filled with care. Humility will reach out to the tax collector in the parable and comfort him in the knowledge of God’s mercy. It will reach out to the Pharisee and challenge him to open his heart to the real truth within so that, painful though that truth may be, he may find the hope of tears and repentance.

So, true humility calmly and peacefully accepts the truth and empties itself in love even unto death. There is no one humbler than Christ. There is no one more human than Christ. May He plant His humility and His humanity deep in the soil of our hearts especially through the greatest sign of His humble love which He has left for us, the Holy Eucharist. And may we ourselves become humble Eucharist for one another