RB Reflection: 26 & 27 May 2008

Chapter 7: On Humility

Holy Scripture, brethren, cries out to us, saying,
"Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled,
and he who humbles himself shall be exalted" (Luke 14:11).
In saying this it shows us
that all exaltation is a kind of pride,
against which the Prophet proves himself to be on guard
when he says,
"Lord, my heart is not exalted,
nor are mine eyes lifted up;
neither have I walked in great matters,
nor in wonders above me."
But how has he acted?
"Rather have I been of humble mind
than exalting myself;
as a weaned child on its mother's breast,
so You solace my soul" (Ps. 130:1-2).

Hence, brethren,
if we wish to reach the very highest point of humility
and to arrive speedily at that heavenly exaltation
to which ascent is made through the humility of this present life,
we must
by our ascending actions
erect the ladder Jacob saw in his dream,
on which Angels appeared to him descending and ascending.
By that descent and ascent
we must surely understand nothing else than this,
that we descend by self-exaltation and ascend by humility.
And the ladder thus set up is our life in the would,
which the Lord raises up to heaven if our heart is humbled.
For we call our body and soul the sides of the ladder,
and into these sides our divine vocation has inserted
the different steps of humility and discipline we must climb.
The first degree of humility, then,
is that a person keep the fear of God before his eyes
and beware of ever forgetting it.
Let him be ever mindful of all that God has commanded;
let his thoughts constantly recur
to the hell-fire which will burn for their sins
those who despise God,
and to the life everlasting which is prepared
for those who fear Him.
Let him keep himself at every moment from sins and vices,
whether of the mind, the tongue, the hands, the feet,
or the self-will,
and check also the desires of the flesh.

Now we begin to climb the ladder of humility. For those of you with literal eyes, you will notice that I copied this chapter lock, stock, and barrel from the OSB website. "We descend by self-exaltation, and ascend by humility." Now whether that phrase came from the Rule of the Master, of from Benedict himself, matters not a bit. And it is the phrase we shall focus on today.

As Lay Cistercians we are called to live by this "little Rule for beginners," and incorporate it into our own Rule of Life. A wide diversity exists amongst the various groups in the United States, as well as international groups. Diversity of practice is no sin, for we have our share of the charism as it manifests itself in each local group. We are united by the Charism, but are not made of one practice by the Charism.

No, what unites us all is the Rule of Benedict. What we receive from the Cistercian Charism is unique to each group. Groups are made up of people, separated by geographic distance. No two groups will ever be the same. But! We are all one with the Abbey of Gethsemani, and not divided up into many smaller Lay Abbeys.

So what do the two paragraphs above have to do with anything? "We descend by self-exaltation, and ascend by humility." The moment one group self exalts above the others and starts demanding conformity, we can be sure the group is descending the ladder of humility. This has not happened, nor do I believe that it will ever happen. This Charism is so strong that it unites the most conservative Catholic with the most liberal Episcopalian. Nothing else can do that, except the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is notorious in its own diversity.

As we grow, and as we seek acceptance by the OCSO, we shall have to present some type of organization. A large body of people who are unorganized are not a community of faith, they are, at best, a bunch of New Age hippies. So we must be careful as we go through the process of change that the Chrism is calling us to do, so that we remain on the ladder of humility always rising by our humility, and never, or at least seldom, falling by our self-exaltation.