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Chapter 2GradH.1.2

QUO FRUCTU GRADUS HUMILITATIS ASCENDI DEBEANT

The Purpose of the Climb

The author prefaces his teaching on the steps of humility by promising to reveal the fruit that awaits at the summit, so that the labor of the ascent will seem lighter.

Since I am about to speak about the steps of humility — which blessed Benedict presents not as things to be counted but as things to be climbed — I want to show first, if I can, the point those steps are meant to reach, so that once you have heard the fruit of arriving there, the labor of the climb will weigh less heavily on you.12

Christ the Way: Humility as the Path to Truth

Drawing on Christ's words in John 14:6 and Matthew 11:29, the author identifies humility as the way that leads to truth, showing that when Christ says 'I am the way' he means the way of meekness and lowliness of heart.

Let the Lord, then, set before us the labor of the way and the reward of that labor: "I am," he says, "the way, the truth, and the life."✦ The way, he calls humility, which leads to truth; the one is labor, and the other is the fruit of labor. "How can I know," you ask, "that he was speaking about humility there, since he said in general terms, 'I am the way'?"✦ Listen more closely: "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart."✦

Imitating Christ: From the Way to the Light of Life

Christ offers himself as the model of humility and gentleness; by imitating him the disciple passes from darkness into the light of life, which is truth itself—the truth that promises and bestows eternal life, defined as the knowledge of the true God and of Jesus Christ.

He therefore presents himself as the example of humility, the model of gentleness. If you imitate him, you will not walk in darkness, but you will have the light of life.✦ What is the light of life, if not truth — which enlightens every person coming into this world and shows where true life is to be found?✦✦3 For this reason, after he had said, "I am the way and the truth," he added, "and the life" — as if to say: I am the way that leads to the truth; I am the truth that promises life; I am the life that I give.✦4 "This is eternal life," he says: "that they may know you, the true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ."✦5

The Weary Climber's Question and Christ's Provision

Restating the way–truth framework in the disciple's own voice, the author voices the fear that the labor of humility may be too great, and answers it with Christ's promise: 'I am the life,' the sustenance that upholds the climber on the journey.

Or put it this way, as if you were saying: "I consider the way, that is, humility; I desire the fruit, that is, truth."✦ "But what if the labor of the way is so great that I cannot reach the grief I long for?"6 He responds: "I am the life, that is, the provision for the journey, by which you will be sustained on the way."✦7

Christ's Threefold Cry to Wanderers, Doubters, and the Weary

The author shows how Christ's declaration 'I am the way, the truth, and the life' speaks to every stage of the journey—to those who have lost the path, to those who doubt, and to those who grow weary in the climb—and concludes that the knowledge of truth is indeed the fruit of humility.

Therefore he cries out to those who wander and to those who do not know the way: I am the way; to those who doubt and do not believe: I am the truth; and now to those who are ascending but growing weary: I am the life.✦8 Sufficiently, I think, it has been shown from the passage set forth in the Gospel chapter that the knowledge of truth is the fruit of humility.✦9

The Father Reveals Truth to the Little Ones

The author turns to prayer, echoing Christ's thanksgiving to the Father for hiding the secrets of truth from the proud and revealing them to the little ones, and draws the final lesson: truth is hidden from the proud and revealed to the humble.

And here is something else: I acknowledge to you, Father of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things — the secrets of truth, beyond any doubt — from the wise and the prudent, that is, from the proud, and have revealed them to the little ones, that is, to the humble.✦1011 And from this it is clear that truth, which is hidden from the proud, is revealed to the humble.12

Read the original Latin

Locuturus ergo de gradibus humilitatis, quos beatus Benedictus non numerandos, sed ascendendos proponit, prius ostendo, si possum, quo per illos Perveniendum sit, ut: audito fructu perventionis, minus gravet labor ascensionis.

Proponat itaque Dominus nobis viae laborem, laboris mercedem: Ego sum, inquit, via, veritas et vita. Viam dicit, humilitatem, quae ducit ad veritatem : altera labor, altera fructus laboris est. "Unde sciam" inquis, "quod ibi de humilitate locutus sit, cum indeterminate dixerit: "Ego sum via"? Audi apertius : Discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde.

Se ergo proponit humilitatis exemplum, mansuetudinis formam. Si imitaris eum, non ambulas in tenebris, sed habebis lumen vitae. Quid est lumen vitae, nisi veritas, quae illuminans omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum, ostendit ubi sit vera vita? Ideo cum dixisset: Ego sum via et veritas, subdidit: et vita, at si diceret:Ego sum via, quae ad veritatem duco; ego sum veritas, quae vitam promitto; ego sum vita, quam do. Haec est enim, ait, vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te verum deum, et quem misisti Iesum Christum.

Vel sic, quasi tu dicas: "Viam considero, id est humilitatem; fructum desidero, veritatem. Se quid si tantus est labor viae, ut ad optatum luctum non possim pervenire?" Respondet: Ego sum vita, id est viaticum, quo sustenteris in via.

Clamat igitur errantibus et viam ignorantibus: Ego sum via; dubitantibus et non credentibus: Ego sum veritas; iam ascendentibus, sed lassescentibus: Ego sum vita. Satis, ut reor, ostensum est ex proposito capitulo Evangelii cognitionem veritatis fructum esse humilitatis.

Accipe et aliud: confiteor tibi, Pater caeli et terrae, quia abscondisti haec, haud dubium quin veritatis secreta, a sapientibus et prudentibus, id est a superbis, et revelasti ea parvulis, hoc est humilibus. Et in hoc apparet quod veritas, quae superbis absconditur, humilibus revelatur.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩John.14.6 — Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
  2. ↩John.14.6 — Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
  3. ↩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.
  4. ↩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.'
  5. ↩John.1.9 — The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
  6. ↩John.14.6 — Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
  7. ↩John.14.6 — Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
  8. ↩John.17.3 — And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ.
  9. ↩John.14.6 — Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
  10. ↩John.14.6 — Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
  11. ↩John.14.6 — Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
  12. ↩Matt.11.25;Luke.10.21 — At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to infants.'" Use "for" to strengthen the prayer's causal movement and reduce repetition with v.26. Luke.10.21 — In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will before you."
  13. ↩Matt.11.25 — At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to infants.'" Use "for" to strengthen the prayer's causal movement and reduce repetition with v.26.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The ut clause after the colon is ambiguous between purpose ('so that') and result ('with the result that'); the punctuation and context favor a purpose reading — the aim of showing the goal is to lighten the labor.
  2. 2 ↩quo per illos Perveniendum sit: quo as adverb of direction ('whither / to what point') with per + acc. + impersonal gerundive expressing the goal or destination to be reached through the steps.
  3. 3 ↩The rhetorical question with 'nisi' identifies the light of life with truth itself, echoing John 1:4–9 and John 14:6. The participial phrase 'illuminans omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum' is a direct Johannine echo.
  4. 4 ↩The threefold explication — way, truth, life — unpacks the Johannine 'ego sum via et veritas et vita' (John 14:6) into a structured spiritual progression: humility (way) leads to truth, truth promises life, and Christ himself is that life given to the believer.
  5. 5 ↩The quotation is from John 17:3 (Vulgate: 'haec est autem vita aeterna ut cognoscant te verum deum et quem misisti Iesum Christum'). The shift from first-person 'ait' to the reported speech is characteristic of à Kempis's homiletic style.
  6. 6 ↩optatum luctum — 'the desired grief' or 'the longed-for mourning': likely refers to the sorrow of compunction, the grace-pierced grief for sin that the humble soul yearns to attain.
  7. 7 ↩viaticum — rendered as 'provision for the journey'; the term carries Eucharistic overtones in later medieval usage, but here it functions as a general metaphor for Christ as sustenance along the way of humility.
  8. 8 ↩The three 'I am' declarations echo John 14:6 ('I am the way, the truth, and the life'), here distributed across three groups of seekers.
  9. 9 ↩The function of 'ut' with 'reor' is ambiguous: it may introduce a parenthetical complement clause ('as I think') or carry a mild concessive/purpose force. The parenthetical reading is preferred here.
  10. 10 ↩The sentence closely echoes the thanksgiving prayer of Matt 11:25 (Vulgate: 'Confiteor tibi, Pater, Domine caeli et terrae, quia abscondisti haec a sapientibus et prudentibus, et revelasti ea parvulis'). Final resolution of quotation boundaries belongs to the Moses stage.
  11. 11 ↩'Haud dubium quin veritatis secreta' is rendered 'the secrets of truth, beyond any doubt' to capture the dubium quin periphrasis; the Latin syntax is compressed and the case of secreta is uncertain (nom. or acc.), but the intended sense is clear.
  12. 12 ↩The sentence restates the theological point of the preceding prayer: humility is the condition for receiving truth. This reinforces the chapter's argument that the grades of humility lead to the knowledge of truth.

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