To be "humble of heart", The 12 degrees of humility according to St. Benedict and...

[Michie]

...St. Thomas Aquinas


[FONT=Georgia, serif]14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 11:25-30[/FONT]
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[FONT=Georgia, serif]Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Georgia, serif]Fr. Cornelius a’ Lapide cites the words of St. Augustine on this verse: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, not to frame a world, not to create all things, visible and invisible, not to do miracles in the world and to raise the dead; but that I am meek and lowly in heart. Dost thou wish to be great, begin from the least. Thou art thinking of constructing a mighty fabric of loftiness, think first of the foundation of humility. And as great as each one wishes to build up his edifice, the greater the building, so much the more deeply let him dig his foundation.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia, serif]In following Christ our Savior, we are to imitate not so much his power and his glory, but rather his meekness and humility. But how to be humble? Indeed, it is much easier to be humble in word than humble of heart. In this regard, we turn to the writings of St. Benedict of Nursia who, in the seventh chapter of his Rule, establishes the twelve degrees of humility. Finally, we will reproduce St. Thomas Aquinas' defense of the twelve degrees, recalling that the Angelic Doctor himself learned humility through his schooling under the Holy Rule as a boy. [/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia, serif][FONT=Georgia, serif][what follows is taken entirely from the Rule of St. Benedict and from the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, respectively][/FONT]


[FONT=Georgia, serif]From the Holy Rule of St. Benedict, chapter VII. On Humility[/FONT]
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[FONT=Georgia, serif]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 a man consider that God is always look at him from heaven, that his actions are everywhere visible to the divine eyes and are constantly being reported to God by the Angels.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Georgia, serif]Continued- http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2011/07/to-be-humble-of-heart-12-degrees-of.html[/FONT]

 

[Virgil the Roman]

Good Stuff!

 

[Mister Emu]

I've always thought of joviality as something good... not an un-humble attitude.

 

[Memento Mori]

Good Stuff!

Good stuff, but hard sayings for sure. Look at the second degree. The desire to feel pleasure and avoid pain is so deeply ingrained in us, how many of us are ready to embrace the opposite at all times? These precepts are humbling in themselves because knowing them means knowing how imperfectly we're conformed to Christ.

 

[Virgil the Roman]

"These precepts are humbling in themselves because knowing them means knowing how imperfectly we're conformed to Christ."​

I know. It gets me all the time, whenever I read The Imitation of Christ.

 

[Fantine]

I really like Joan Chittister's comments about the Rule--and since she has been a Benedictine for 50 years or more I know she brings a contemporary wisdom and insight to her commentary.

Twelve Steps to Inner Freedom: Humility Revisited, Christian Books and Bibles, Popular Authors, Joan Chittister at Saint Patrick's Guild

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif]Author: Joan D. Chittister. The author guides the reader through the twelve steps of humility which make up the Rule of Benedict, and then prescribes them as the antidote for our ailing, violent, discouraged world. Acceptance of God, acceptance of ourselves as we are, and acceptance of others as they are lead to the final step - a centered and serene life. A prescription sure to bring about healing. Paperback; 82 pages. [/FONT][/QUO[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT]TE]

 

[Virgil the Roman]

Joan Chittister? Is the same heterodox nun, who publicly and actively advocates dissent from church teaching; even going so far as to promote teachings---that is to say, errors---that are opposed to the Truth of Christ's Church?! If she is indeed, one-in-the-same, one would do well to not listen to her words at all.