De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae
The Eye Purged: Entering the Ascents of the Heart
To know the truth fully in oneself, one must first remove the beam of pride and then order the interior ascents of humility that lead beyond the twelfth step to the first step of truth.
So if you truly want to know the truth fully in yourself, you need to remove the beam of pride that keeps your eye from the light, and then arrange the ascents in your own heart—by which you examine yourself within yourself—so that, after the twelfth step of humility, you reach the first step of truth.✦✦12
Found in Truth: The Second Step and the Cry of the Liar
Having been found by truth, the humble soul exalts God and confesses that every human being is a liar.
But when someone can say — with truth found in them, or rather with them found in truth — "I believed, and so I spoke," then let that person, deeply humbled, lift their heart on high, so that truth may be exalted; and arriving at the second step, let them say in their own ecstasy: "Every human being is a liar."
The Prophetic Order: David, the Lord, and the Apostle
The order of humility and confession was already followed by David, perceived by the Prophet, the Lord, and the Apostle.
Do you think David did not follow this order? Do you think the Prophet did not perceive what the Lord perceived, what the Apostle perceived, and what we too, after them and through them, perceive?
Believing in the Light: Following Christ Who Is Truth
The soul believes in Christ, the Truth who is the Light, and therefore speaks by confessing.
"I believed," he says, "in Truth, who said: 'Whoever follows me does not walk in darkness.'"✦ "I believed, therefore, by following — and so I spoke by confessing."
The Content of Confession: Truth Known by Believing
The confession is of the truth that was come to know through believing.
What did he confess? The truth I came to know by believing.
Humbled Perfectly: Confession Against Oneself
Having believed unto righteousness and spoken unto salvation, the soul is humbled perfectly by confessing the truth that speaks against it.
But after I both believed unto righteousness and spoke unto salvation, I was humbled deeply — that is, perfectly. As though he were saying: Because I wasn't ashamed to confess the truth I'd come to know in myself, even when it spoke against me, I advanced to the perfection of humility.
'Exceedingly' as 'Perfectly': A Scriptural Gloss
The word 'exceedingly' in the Psalm can mean 'perfectly,' and even if read as 'very much' it does not conflict with the Prophet's meaning.
'Exceedingly' can be understood there as 'perfectly,' just as in the verse: In his commandments he delights exceedingly.✦ But if anyone should argue that nimis here means 'very much' rather than 'perfectly' — since the commentators themselves seem to support the same reading — that still doesn't conflict with the Prophet's meaning.
From Vanity to Contempt: The Fruit of Knowing Truth in Christ
Before knowing the truth one thought oneself something when nothing; but after believing in Christ and imitating his humility, truth is exalted in the soul while the soul becomes utterly contemptible in its own eyes.
So that we may perceive what he meant when he said: "I, indeed, while I still did not know the truth, thought I was something, when I was nothing." But once I came to know the truth — by believing in Christ, that is, by imitating his humility — truth itself has indeed been exalted in me through my confession; but I have been humbled exceedingly, that is, I've become utterly contemptible in my own eyes through examining myself.
Read the original Latin
Qui ergo plene veritatem in se cognoscere curat, necesse est ut, semota trabe superbiae, quae oculum arcet a luce, ascensiones in corde suo disponat, per qua in seipso seipsum inquirat, et sic post duodecimum humilitatis ad primum veritatis gradum pertingat.
Cum autem veritate inventa in se, immo se invento in veritate, dicere potuerit: Credidi, propter quos locutus sum; ego autem humiliatus sum nimis ascendat homo ad cor altum, ut exaltetur veritas, et ad gradum secundum perveniens dicat in excessu suo: Omnis homo mendax. Putas hunc ordinem David non tenuit? Putas hoc Propheta non sensit, quod Dominus, quod Apostolus, quod et nos post ipsos et per ipsos sentimus? Credidi, inquit, Veritati dicenti: Qui sequitur me, non ambulat in tenebris. Credidi ergo sequendo, propter quod locutus sum confitendo. Quid confitendo? Veritatem quam cognovi credendo. Postquam autem et credidi ad iustitiam, et locutus sum ad salutem, humiliatus sum nimis, hoc est perfecte.
Tamquam diceret: Quia veritatem cognitam in me confiteri contra me non erubui, ad perfectionem humilitatis profeci. Nimis enim pro perfecte potest intelligi, tu ibi: In mandatis eius volet nimis. Quod si quis contendat nimis hic pro "valde" positum esse, non pro "perfecte", quia et expositores idipsum videntur astruere, neque hoc discordat a sensu Prophetae.
Ut si sentiamus eum dixisse: Ego quidem cum adhuc veritatem non nossem, aliquid me putabam esse, cum nihil essem. At postquam in Christum credendo, id est eius humilitatem imitando, veritatem agnovi, ipsa quidem exaltata est in me ex mea confessione; sed ego humiliatus sum nimis, id est: valde vilui mihi ex mei consideratione.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.7.3-Matt.7.5 — Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Matt.7.4 — Or how will you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? Matt.7.5 — You hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
- ↩Luke.6.41-Luke.6.42 — Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Luke.6.42 — How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
- ↩John.8.12 — Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'
- ↩Ps.111.1;Ps.113.1 — Praise the LORD. I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and the congregation. Ps.113.1 — Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
Notes
- 1 ↩ascensiones ("ascents"): the metaphor of interior steps or upward movements of the heart; rendered as "ascents" to preserve the spatial/spiritual imagery of ordered inner progress.
- 2 ↩trabe superbiae ("beam of pride"): an allusion to the beam in one's eye (Matthew 7:3–5 / Luke 6:41–42); the metaphor is preserved rather than paraphrased.
De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae (On the Steps of Humility and Pride) companion
Humility is climbed one day at a time
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