Humility and Obedience

We’ve all heard the terms “false humility” or “false modesty” but I don’t know if anyone has been able to determine what constitutes true and what constitutes false humility.

I’ve heard Jesuits speak of humility in the context of obedience. Fr. Nebres tells the story of a young novice who wrote a wonderful philosophical essay and showed it excitedly to his novice master. The novice master acknowledges the novice’s work then tells him, “Go clean the comfort rooms”. The novice is shocked by the command and asks why he is being punished when he just had a magnificent accomplishment. The novice master says, “I am not punishing you, it is just that the comfort rooms need cleaning”.

Fr. Ben also talks about the late Fr. Cruz, former President of the University. When Fr. Ben became provincial and Fr. Cruz retired from the presidency of the Ateneo, Fr. Ben asked Fr. Cruz to take over as principal of the high school (which was a big demotion). Fr. Cruz accepted and took over the job with much gusto.

The same can be said of Jesus. Jesus is God, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. He was human enough not to want to be tortured and die but whose love and trust in his Father led him to say, “not my will but yours be done”.

While these examples emphasize traditional concepts of humility (magpakumbaba) in the light of obedience, it is not humility itself that should be highlighted but obedience. And obedience may mean the opposite of what we usually mean by humility. Sometimes, we are not asked to treat ourselves with less importance. Sometimes, we are called to step up to the plate, to play the lead role, like Peter who was named as leader of the apostles, Moses who was asked to lead Israel out of Egypt and David who was made king of Israel.

What is important then is not that we depreciate our worth in order to emulate Christ. What is important is that out of love of God and with complete trust in Him, we obey his commands.

Do thou direct and govern all and sway,

Do what thou wilt command and I obey.

(An old essay. Not sure when I wrote this)