On Humility
LXIII. On Humility
1. Were God not to have deified man
and been put to death and hanged for man’s sake,
He would not have possessed the greatest humility.
2. God chose to become man and to suffer great travails for man’s sake
so that He might possess the greatest humility,
and might inspire in men the greatest hope.
3. That humility is greatest
which causes the greatest worth to descend
for the sake of bestowing honour upon the greatest sinner.
4. The sin to which Adam gave origin in all <people>
was the greatest of sins,
yet it was conquered by the greatest humility.
5. That man who is the greatest in the world
and who causes mercy to descend most deeply
possesses humility in the greatest abundance.
6. When Christ was seized, sold, beaten, slain and hanged,
the greatest pride and the greatest humility
would then have stood in contrariety.
7. He who is ashamed
of doing good and of pleading for forgiveness
to me seems very much to be a proud person.
8. He who, on account of pride, desires to be honoured
knows not what humility is,
and, accordingly, whoever honours him shall receive no thanks.
9. He who loves humility
is delighted when he is falsely censured
in defiance of the truth.
10. He who knows little about humility
becomes puffed up by reason of <his> wisdom,
and becomes enraged as soon as someone irritates him.