The degrees of humility…
Posted by Terry Nelson on May 10th, 2007
The degrees of humility according to St. Anselm:
I. To acknowledge ourselves contemptible.
II. To grieve on account of this.
III. To admit that we are so.
IV. To desire our neighbor to believe it.
V. Patiently to endure people’s saying it.
VI. Willingly to be treated as a person worthy of contempt.
VII. To love to be treated in this fashion. - Taken from “The Three Ages of the Interior Life.”
(And yet I tell people to mind their own business when correcting me! I have a long way to go before attaining humility.)
May 11th, 2007 at 7:56 am
I loved that post! It is brilliant. I love what Aquinas says on humility too.
May 11th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Don’t care for Anselm … prefer Benedict’s degrees of humility. What is this painting???
May 11th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Michael, the image is an illumination from Dante and Oderisi.
I love St. Benedict’s degrees of humility too.
I just wish I was humble.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
That’s good, Terry! I’ve never heard of the degrees of humility before. I should print it and keep it as a constant reminder that humility is a blessing that delivers great graces. Unfortunately, humility does not come easily for me.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Paramedicgirl:
Sometimes I wonder if one can be a blogger and be humble, don’t you? Truly - humility doesn’t come easy for anyone…especially me!!! But you know, if we didn’t blog or have this interaction, none of us would realize how un-humble we actually are!
May 12th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Reading blogs like Abbey-Roads2 is like unto an Examen. And it is interesting how Terry, Adoro or Cathy and others around here are regularly examining issues that I should be doing myself.