At the end of last week’s reflection, it was mentioned that God asks us, his creatures, to exercise humility. So, we must understand humility – we cannot exercise a virtue that we do not understand. 

The word humility comes from the same root at humus, a Latin word which means “soil” or “ground.” This may seem a strange connection, but in humility, we are connected to the reality of the earth – we are “grounded,” as it were. Much like a farmer knows the ground he cultivates, to be humble is to know oneself.

Many people think that humility simply means to be self-deprecating, to make oneself less than others. But this is not true humility. Rather, in humility, we recognize both our strengths and our limitations; we do not simply disregard ourselves as unimportant. In fact, to do so would be to forget that we are made in God’s image and likeness. 

In humility, we accept that we are creatures, subject to the boundaries of our creatureliness. To be humble, therefore, can be described as seeing ourselves as God sees us, with a view that is objective and real. Both our strengths and our limitations come from God and can serve Him. As St. Francis teaches in the Admonitions: “Blessed is the servant who does not consider themselves better when praised and honored by others than when considered insignificant, simple, and unworthy. For who we are before God, that we are – and no more.

This week, let us remember who we are before God–and let that humble awareness turn our hearts toward others and all of creation.