Caput XXXIV
Christ the True Abel and the Humility of the Incarnation
Christ, as the true Abel and divine Wisdom, endured suffering out of sheer condescension so that sinful humanity would not shrink from the hardships of this life, and he offers his humble incarnation as the pattern and path for all who come to him.
He himself — the true Abel — consoled us through all the troubles of our tribulation, and with wonderful compassion endured in his divine power the whole of what he knew we would have to endure out of necessity, so that we, being only human, would not shrink from suffering what we undergo as the just consequence of our fault, since he who is God deigned to endure such great things out of sheer condescension alone. I don't think anyone is so presumptuous as to seek — as if on the basis of some unique merit or a worthier nature — to have this present life arranged for himself free from all troubles, when even the author of life himself did not depart from that same life without the pain of suffering.✦ For whatever virtues a person may possess, what claim to dignity has the life of sinners, if his very life — which was subject to no sin — was submitted to the scourge for our sake? To say something by way of example: the divine voice rebuked Baruch, the disciple of the prophet Jeremiah, because while the rest were migrating into captivity, he presumed to seek rest for himself. Otherwise the Christian soldier walks a different path if he seeks joys and delights, when his leader shows him the ways of bitterness.✦ Concerning these ways it is written: 'They refused to understand all the ways of justice' (Job 34:27) — namely, the proud despised the examples of humility that he offered to be imitated.✦ For every action that Christ, the wisdom of God, performed through the mystery of his own incarnation is a way and an order of living. He offered as many paths to those coming to him as examples he set forth. Concerning this wisdom it is written: 'She cries out, standing in the midst of the paths' (Prov. 8:2).✦ This wisdom would surely have been ours to investigate, if she had wished to hide herself.✦
The Way of Humility: Christ's Teaching and the Origin of Pride
Divine Wisdom plants herself in the middle of the paths so that even the unwilling encounter her, and the way she shows is the way of humility—the very remedy God became small to teach, since pride was the origin of our destruction.
But now she plants her step in the middle of the paths, so that we might press close to her — even those of us who are unwilling — and though we neglect to see her, we stumble against her. What sort of way is it, then, that he shows? Surely it is the way of humility — of which he himself says: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.✦ Matthew 11:29. For what else does this life show to the eyes of those who look upon it but a state of lowliness? For the origin of our destruction was the pride of the devil. Therefore, so that humility might become the instrument of redemption, God appeared for this purpose — not only visible, but even despised. For this purpose he endured the mockery of insults, the sport of derision, the reproaches of suffering, torments, and death itself — so that a humble God might teach man not to be proud. For it was on account of humility alone — truly needing to be taught — that he who is great beyond all reckoning above all things deigned to become small among all things.
The Humble Passage from Lowest Things to Glory
The proud refuse to understand Christ's lowly ways, but the humble perceive that through these lowest things one passes to the highest—enduring hardships patiently and awaiting with perseverance the eternal glory won at the cost of temporal disgrace.
These, then, are his ways — ways the proud refuse to understand, because they look down on the lowly things he chose to suffer through. But for every humble person, understanding those same ways means knowing this: through these lowest things one passes to the highest — knowing that hardships must be endured patiently, and what lasts must be awaited with perseverance, so that by the example of him who had to suffer, and in this way to enter into his own glory, eternal glory may be sought, won at the cost of temporal disgrace.✦✦1
Read the original Latin
Ipse autem verus Abel cunctas nostrae tribulationis molestias consolans, mirabili compassione totum ex potestate sustinuit, quod nobis ex necessitate sustinendum novit, ut nos homines quod ex merito culpae patimur, non refugiamus, cum ille qui Deus est ex sola condescensione tanta sustinere dignatus est. Non itaque puto quemlibet tam praesumptuosum, ut quasi de singulari merito, vel digniori natura praesumens, praesentem vitam sine molestiis quaerat sibi disponi, cum ipse quoque auctor vitae, sine dolore passionis ab eadem vita non exiit. Quibuslibet enim virtutibus polleat, quid digna est vita peccatorum, si ejus et vita pro nobis flagello subjacuit, quae subdita nulli peccato fuit? Ut enim aliquid sub exemplo dicamus, Baruch discipulum Jeremiae prophetae divina vox redarguit, eo quod caeteris in captivitatem transmigrantibus quietem sibi quaerere praesumpsit. Alioquin diverso itinere ambulat Christianus miles, si gaudia et delectationes quaerit, cui dux suus vias amaritudinis ostendit. De quibus viis scriptum est: Omnes vias jus intelligere noluerunt (Job XXXIV, 27), videlicet superbi exempla humilitatis quae praebuit imitare despexerunt. Omnis enim actio quam per incarnationis suae mysterium Christus Dei sapientia gessit via est, et ordo vivendi: qui venientibus ad se tot vias praebuit quot exempla monstravit: de qua sapientia scriptum est: Quia clamitat stans in mediis semitis (Prov. VIII, 2), quae nimirum investiganda nobis fuerat si se occultare velet.
At nunc in mediis semitis figit gradum, ut in ipsam impinguamus, et nolentes; et quam videre negligimus, tangamus offendentes. Sane qualis est via quam ostendit? utique humilitatis: de qua ipse dicit: Discite a me quia mitis sum et humilis corde (Matth. XI, 29). Quid enim in hac vita aliud quam dejectionem intuentium oculis ostendit? Nostrae enim perditionis fuit origo superbia diaboli. Ut ergo redemptionis instrumentum fieret humilitas Dei, ad hoc non solum visibilis, sed etiam despectus apparuit; ad hoc contumeliarum ludibria, irrisionum probra, passionum tormenta mortemque toleravit, ut humilis Deus doceret hominem non esse superbum. Propter humilitatem namque solam veraciter edocendam, is qui est aestimatione magnus super omnia, parvus inter omnia fieri dignatus est.
Hae sunt ergo viae ejus, quas superbi intelligere nolunt, quoniam abjecta quae pertulit pati despiciunt. Sed easdem vias unicuique humili intelligere est hoc nosse, quia per haec infima transitur ad summa: scire quod oporteat adversa patienter tolerare, mansura perseveranter exspectare, ut exemplo ejus quem pati oportuit, et ita intrare in gloriam suam, aeterna quaeratur gloria, temporalibus opprobriis comparata.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Acts.3.15 — But you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. Of this we are witnesses.
- ↩2Tim.2.3-2Tim.2.4 — Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 2Tim.2.4 — No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the affairs of civilian life, in order to please the one who enlisted him.
- ↩Job.34.27 — Because they turned away from following him and gave no thought to any of his ways,
- ↩Prov.8.2 — She takes her stand at the top of the heights, along the way, at the crossroads;
- ↩Prov.8.1-Prov.8.4 — Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? Prov.8.2 — She takes her stand at the top of the heights, along the way, at the crossroads; Prov.8.3 — Beside the gates, at the mouth of the city, at the entrance of the doors, she cries aloud. Prov.8.4 — To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man.
- ↩Matt.11.29 — Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
- ↩Rom.8.17 — And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
- ↩Heb.2.10 — For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Notes
- 1 ↩The clause 'ut exemplo ejus quem pati oportuit, et ita intrare in gloriam suam' is syntactically compressed; the subject of 'intrare' shifts from the humble individual to a general 'one,' and 'gloriam suam' may refer to Christ's glory or the individual's own glory. The translation preserves the ambiguity, leaning toward the individual's entry into glory by Christ's example.
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