Our life begins in utter ignorance of all things, and our mind is first opened by the instinctive faith that we place in those around us. Without this faith we could make no beginning of knowledge. The simple, open, confiding spirit of childhood enables us to learn much in a short time. But youth also advances in knowledge through faith in the teacher.We are now speaking of human faith. There are three moral elements in this teachableness. The first is the consciousness of, which is an element of natural humility. The second is the opening of the mind to the teacher, which is a second element of humility. The third is the belief given to the teacher, which is a third element of humility. This is the human way of knowledge; it begins with faith, and the greater part by far of everyone’s knowledge has no other ground than faith.The principles of divine faith are totally different from the principles of human faith. Human faith rests on the testimony of man; divine faith on the testimony of God. The natural man cannot understand divine faith; he must be prepared for it, and God alone can prepare him. As the truth revealed by God is above all created nature, and is divine, the grace of God must dispose the soul for its reception. And this disposition is obtained not by study, but by prayer; not by disputation, but by humility.
Faith is the first light, the heralding light, the foundation placed in us of what in its final perfection will be the Beatific Vision of God. It is the beginning of the eternal ways in us, the commencement of our union with God, and is compared in the Scriptures to a first espousal of the soul with God: “I will espouse thee to me in faith.” Faith is the first thing that makes us acceptable to God, for as Paul says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” We please Him by the humility with which we acknowledge Him to be the fountain of truth and subject ourselves to Him as the children of His truth.
Faith is by its very nature a subjection of the mind and will to God as He is the sovereign truth, a subjection to His divine authority as the illuminator and teacher of the soul, and a subjection to the truth which He teaches by revealing. Moreover, as a test and trial of this subjection to Him, God is pleased to require that this subjection of faith shall be openly made and manifested before all men, by our open submission to the Church which He has appointed to represent His authority, to the voice of Her teaching, and to Her ministry of grace, as exercised in His name and by His power.
This is not only faith, but the humility of faith, because it is the subjection of the mind and heart to the authority of God and to His truth, in the way that He imposes and prescribes.
Humility must remove pride and open the soul so that the grace of faith may enter.
What prevented such numbers of those who followed our divine Lord and, attracted by curiosity, heard His words and saw His mighty power in His miracles, from believing in Him? Our Lord Himself has proclaimed the three causes of their unbelief: their pride, their love of this world’s interests, and their human respect. And He proclaimed the two conditions which would alone enable them to follow Him as disciples, and to become members of His kingdom. These were humility and self-abnegation.
Humility, then, is the groundwork of faith, and faith is the groundwork of the other Christian virtues, which are all exercised in the light of faith. Humility frees the soul from pride and error; faith fills it with light and truth. Humility opens the soul so that faith may enter.
This article has been adapted from Patience & Humility
Humility brings us to the knowledge of ourselves, and faith to the knowledge of God. But the knowledge of God brings so great an increase to the knowledge of ourselves, when we use that knowledge rightly, that humility may be said to rest on faith as much as faith rests on humility.
The force and wisdom of faith is the love of God and our neighbor. For charity is the light of faith, and faith is the light of charity. Wherefore let us cultivate humility, that we may have a larger soul for faith and charity; and faith, that we may have a greater light from God and deeper knowledge of the eternal mysteries; and charity, that we may obtain the fruit of faith and humility through the closer union of our soul with God. But faith is cultivated by prayer, by meditation, by contemplation, and by living, thinking, and acting in the light of faith, and in the presence of God.
Grow in love of God and neighbor through humility
Let us ascend in mind through the grace of God to the divine fountain of all charity. God is charity; charity is the life and perfection of His being. What an infinitude of life and love is expressed in these three little words: God is charity!
As the seashell on the sandy shore cannot contain the ocean that rolls around the world; as the laboring breast of man cannot contain the pure and boundless ether that fills the heavens; as the body of man could not pass into the intense conflagration of the sun without instant destruction; neither can the soul of man embrace, comprehend, or enter into the infinite charity of God.
Yet some drops of the ocean are in the shell; some little modified breath of that ether is in the breast of man; and some tempered rays of the warmth of that sun are in our earthly frame. God has also deigned to impart to the soul of the humble Christian some created rays from His uncreated charity, which are full of divine life and love; and in virtue of that sublime gift, the moment the words “God is charity” are sounded in his ears, he knows and feels to his inmost core that it is so.
There is no other reason for the existence of this world than the charity of God and the communication of His charity. The world was made for man, man for the soul, and the soul for charity; and charity unites the soul with God. From charity God created the world, and by charity He perfects the end for which the world was made, for that end is the happiness of souls possessed of charity. There is a kind of life in the soul without charity, but it is not the life for which the soul was made; not true life, but initiatory and merely infantile life, which is life in pain and sorrow from want of our true life.
Humility disposes the soul and prepares the way for charity, and greater humility prepares and disposes the soul for greater charity. True humility never was, never is, and never can be without charity. Humility is the sacrificial element in all sincere love. For as love is the transfer of our affection from ourselves to another, it includes a surrender of self-love, and this surrender is humility. But when we give up our love from ourselves to God, this giving up of our love of self to God is humility, and the love that we give to God is charity.
To humble souls — for they alone are capable — the grace of charity will never be wanting; for the God who is charity does not mock His children, but when He commands them to love Him with their whole heart and soul and strength and mind, He gives them the charity by which they may love Him.
True charity to our neighbor is to love him, whether friend or foe, as we love ourselves, in God, unto God, and for God’s sake. For the charitable love of our neighbor is embraced in the love of God, proceeds from the love of God, and ends in the love of God. Nothing makes us more like to God than to forgive those who offend and injure us; and we may certainly obtain more grace and glory from God through persecution than through kindness, if we know how to use it rightly. Of this true test of charity our Lord gave us the example in His conduct to the traitor Judas.
Charity is the way to man as well as to God. It conciliates all intelligences. And although there may be much excitement in what the world calls pleasure, there is no solid joy of life or peace of heart except in charity. “He who abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him.”
Editor’s note: this article has been adapted from a chapter in Fr Ullathorne’s Patience and Humility, which is available from Sophia Institute Press.
