Humility

SFX Staff Bulletin - Chaplain’s Page (03/06/19)

“Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way!”

(Mac Davis, 1980)

A few of you will be old enough (sorry!) to remember this comedy song. For those who aren’t, here it is:

 

As you may have guessed, the assembly and form period theme for the week after half-term is Humility. It’s a term that in the Christian context generally gets contrasted with the sin of pride. But, personally, I like the interpretation that refers back to the word’s etymology and the latin “humus” or earth. Someone who is humble is someone who is grounded, down to earth. One of my favourite Catholic folk hymns from the 1980s quotes in paraphrase form the Old Testament prophet Micah (chapter 6, verse 8) on this topic:

“This is what Yahweh asks of you, only this,

That you act justly, that you love tenderly,

That you walk humbly with your God.”  

Walking humbly with God, one’s feet “on the ground”... This makes me think of an image that I often come back to when talking about the vocation to be a Brother, that of “walking with” God’s people, not leading them, but walking alongside.

For me, being humble is recognising that I can learn from those whom I am called to serve, those alongside whom I am called to walk, especially the young. It is maintaining a sense of childlike wonder that allows me to see God’s presence in those around me, in nature, in the events of my daily life, in the little nudges and prompts that God gives us on our journey to him.

So, to come back to our “humus”, humility: our feet on solid ground, yes, but our eyes and hearts looking upwards to the heavens. If I look up, those whom I walk with may do so too.

“Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John the Baptist - John 1:29)