Humility
“Abba Anthony said, ‘I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.’” -The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Abba Anthony the Great, paragraph 7)
This is one of the most famous sayings of Abba Anthony. It gets to the heart of growing in virtue. Humility is often called the “mother of all the virtues” for good reason.
Chastity: You need humility to be able to treat yourself and others with the respect that they deserve. Lust, which is the opposite of chastity, is when you use others for your own pleasure and use them like an object. With humility, you are able to see others and yourself with their true dignity as being made in the image and likeness of God.
Temperance: Temperance is also known as moderation. To be able to have moderation, we must recognize that our wants or desires are not the most important thing. We need humility to be able to acknowledge and avoid impulsiveness and overindulgence.
Charity: This one should be fairly obvious. If we have no humility, we will not be charitable to others. We will focus on ourselves and ignore the needs of those around us.
Diligence: Humility is needed to have true diligence because we need to be able to understand that we need to do our tasks well. Whether we want to or not, we should do the things we are tasked to do as best as we can. If we are not humble, we will only do the bare minimum if it does not benefit us directly.
Kindness: It is often said that there is a difference between being “nice” and being “kind”, and I think that distinction can help here. Without humility we can be “nice” to others… as long as they do not do anything that annoys us or gets on our nerves. Then we cease to be “nice” and show our true selves. When we have humility, we can truly be kind and love others even if they do things that are annoying or mean to us. True kindness does not switch on and off like being “nice” can.
Patience: Someone who is patient does not push and shove for their will to be done when they want it. They surrender and say “Lord, I trust Your Will and Your timing in all things.” This takes true humility.
Saint Abba Anthony the Great, pray for us!