De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae
God's Throne Fills All Things
Scripture declares that all heaven is God's throne and all earth his footstool, leaving no place for human pride to sit.
Now hear this slander for yourself: "Heaven," he says to me, "is my throne, but the earth is the footstool of my feet."✦1 He didn't say "the East" or "the West" or some single region of heaven, but "all heaven is my throne." You can't, then, sit in any one part of heaven, since he's claimed the whole of it for himself. On earth you can't sit, because it's the footstool of his feet.
The Proud Have No Resting Place
Cast out of heaven and unable to remain on earth, the proud are condemned to restless exile in the empty air while the Lord sits enthroned over all.
The earth, in fact, is solid ground — the place where the Church sits, founded on a rock that will not shift. What will you do?✦2 Cast out of heaven, you can't remain on earth. Then choose a place for yourself in the air — not for sitting, but for flying — so that you who tried to shake the stability of eternity may feel the punishment your own restlessness deserves. So while you waver between heaven and earth, the Lord sits on his throne, high and lifted up, and all the earth is full of his majesty — with the result that nowhere, except in the empty air, will you find a place to rest.✦3
Read the original Latin
Se iam audi calumniam: Caelum, inquit mihi sedes est, terra autem scabellum pedum meorum. Non dixit "Oriens" aut "Occidens" aut una aliqua caeli plaga, sed "totum caelum mihi sedes est". Non potes ergo in parte sedere caeli, cum ille totum elegerit sibi. In terra non potes, quia pedum eius scabellum est. Terra etenim locus solidus est, ubi sedet Ecclesia, fundata supra firmam petram Quid facies? E caelo pulsus, in terris remanere non potes. Elige ergo tibi in aere locum, non ad sedendum, sed ad volandum, ut qui tentasti concutere statum aeternitatis, poenam sentias propriae fluctuationis. Te ergo fluctante inter caelum et terram sedet Dominus super solium excelsum et elevatum, et plena est omnis terra maiestate eius, ut nusquam nisi in aere invenias locum.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.66.1 — Thus says the LORD: The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What house will you build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
- ↩Matt.16.18 — And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
- ↩Isa.6.1 — In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Notes
- 1 ↩Quotation echoes Isaiah 66:1 (Vulgate): 'Caelum mihi sedes est, terra autem scabellum pedum meorum.' Candidate allusion pending Moses resolution.
- 2 ↩Allusion to Matthew 16:18 ('super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam') in 'fundata supra firmam petram.' Candidate pending Moses resolution.
- 3 ↩Echo of Isaiah 6:1 ('sedet super solium excelsum et elevatum') in 'sedet Dominus super solium excelsum et elevatum.' Candidate pending Moses resolution.
De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae (On the Steps of Humility and Pride) companion
Humility is climbed one day at a time
Take the next step each morning with a free daily devotional in Chosen Portion.
Bernard frames humility as a ladder climbed by small repeated acts; Chosen Portion turns that into practice with one daily devotional step at a time.
- A daily 10-minute portion focused on one virtue at a time
- Re-take the 12-step self-check monthly and see real movement
- Historic texts like Bernard's, one readable portion per day