According to St. Thomas, "the virtue of humility consists in keeping oneself within one's own bounds, not reaching out to things above one, but submitting to one's superior" (Summa Contra Gent., bk. IV, ch. lv, tr. Rickaby). We are accustomed to seeing humility's opposite, pride, on display everywhere, while humility, partly by its nature, is hidden. Nor is the zeitgeist congenial to humility; when it can be found humility is generally derided. Still, there are humble people among us, and here is the story of such a person, who, upon finding she'd overstepped her bounds, submitted to her superior. In this case, the superior to whom she submitted was God. What makes the story even more remarkable is that the woman had been a vicar, but left that ministry to become a Catholic.
No comments:
Post a Comment