Step Seven
“Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.”
The concept of the virtue of humility is very hard for most people in our “me centered” society to grasp. This step has as its core in this virtue. We have discovered through the preceding steps, that pride is at the root of most of our problems and sins. Humility is the antidote to pride, so we must look at what humility really asks of us.
When the alcoholic admits in the first step that they are “powerless over alcohol”, they have taken the first step on the road to true humility. In step two they came to believe that a “power greater than themselves could restore them to sanity.” All they really did here was recognize who and what they were. You don’t have to have a problem with alcohol to have a problem with lack of humility. We live in a society that values self-esteem, either real or imagined, to be the highest “virtue” to be attained.
“Certainly no alcoholic, and surely no member of A.A., wants to deprecate material achievement. Nor do we enter into debate with the many who still so passionately cling to the belief that to satisfy our basic natural desires is the main object of life. But we are sure that no class of people in the world ever made a worse mess of trying to live by this formula than alcoholics. For thousands of years, we have been demanding more than our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we drank to dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank for oblivion. Never was there enough of what we thought we wanted.
In all these strivings, so many of them well intentioned, our crippling handicap had been our lack of humility. We lack the perspective to see that character-building and spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions were not the purpose of living." 12 Steps and 12 Traditions page 71
My Mother was a very well educated woman, particularly for growing up in the 1920’s when most women did not go to college. I used to receive an inordinate amount of attention in my formative years. One of the things my Mom always said to me was, “remember, there is always someone prettier or smarter than you.” Notice she did not say I wasn’t pretty or smart. This was her gentle way of saying, “Don’t take credit for something you did nothing to earn.” My appearance or intelligence was not to be a substitute for character building.
Some people have a distorted view of humility. These are the folks who constantly go around declaring themselves to be unworthy, and allow others to use them as a doormat. This is no more than a subtle, or often not so subtle, attempt to set themselves above others, and it really is a form of pride. “Look at me,” these people cry, “aren’t I humble?” Well, no – you’re just boring.
Tomorrow we will look at what Jesus taught us about humility as well as look at the lives of some saints and ordinary people to see what “humility in action” looks like.
The concept of the virtue of humility is very hard for most people in our “me centered” society to grasp. This step has as its core in this virtue. We have discovered through the preceding steps, that pride is at the root of most of our problems and sins. Humility is the antidote to pride, so we must look at what humility really asks of us.
When the alcoholic admits in the first step that they are “powerless over alcohol”, they have taken the first step on the road to true humility. In step two they came to believe that a “power greater than themselves could restore them to sanity.” All they really did here was recognize who and what they were. You don’t have to have a problem with alcohol to have a problem with lack of humility. We live in a society that values self-esteem, either real or imagined, to be the highest “virtue” to be attained.
“Certainly no alcoholic, and surely no member of A.A., wants to deprecate material achievement. Nor do we enter into debate with the many who still so passionately cling to the belief that to satisfy our basic natural desires is the main object of life. But we are sure that no class of people in the world ever made a worse mess of trying to live by this formula than alcoholics. For thousands of years, we have been demanding more than our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we drank to dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank for oblivion. Never was there enough of what we thought we wanted.
In all these strivings, so many of them well intentioned, our crippling handicap had been our lack of humility. We lack the perspective to see that character-building and spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions were not the purpose of living." 12 Steps and 12 Traditions page 71
My Mother was a very well educated woman, particularly for growing up in the 1920’s when most women did not go to college. I used to receive an inordinate amount of attention in my formative years. One of the things my Mom always said to me was, “remember, there is always someone prettier or smarter than you.” Notice she did not say I wasn’t pretty or smart. This was her gentle way of saying, “Don’t take credit for something you did nothing to earn.” My appearance or intelligence was not to be a substitute for character building.
Some people have a distorted view of humility. These are the folks who constantly go around declaring themselves to be unworthy, and allow others to use them as a doormat. This is no more than a subtle, or often not so subtle, attempt to set themselves above others, and it really is a form of pride. “Look at me,” these people cry, “aren’t I humble?” Well, no – you’re just boring.
Tomorrow we will look at what Jesus taught us about humility as well as look at the lives of some saints and ordinary people to see what “humility in action” looks like.
“No Humility, No Holiness, No Heaven.”
Fr. John Corapi, SOLT
Picture by Simon Dewey,Fortune Art Gallery
Simon Dewey is a great family and religious artist from England. Even though his artworks haven't been greatly promoted in United States, he has become famous for his delicate and masterful way to portray the love and compassion in the face of the Savior Jesus Christ.
2 comments:
If you could snap your fingers and take away pride from humanity before going to bed tonight, when you wake up in the morning you wont recognize a thing.
I keep thinking that those of us who look for "security, prestige, and romance" in material possessions or in the sublunary, are looking for something unnameable, or something we forgot to remember, which is to say Heaven. Remember the opening lines of St. Augustine’s Confessions? “[O}ur hearts are restless until they rest in you.” The irreligious are particularly disoriented when it comes to diagnosing the inherent vacuity, uneasiness, and brokenness that plagues all human beings, and the true calling of us all. I also think Chardin’s spirituality of Jesus Christ calling all of Creation to Himself fits very nicely with this.
Tom - you always have such wonderful insights.
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