Introduction

In our last letter we mentioned that, as we celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the Rule, it is important that each member of the Order reflect on the four charisms which the document presents to us as central to our fraternal life: evangelical conversion of life, prayer, poverty, and humility (cf. TOR Rule, art. 2). In view of the celebration of the One who became poor for our sake, we invited the Order to focus on poverty, especially in the way it is understood and lived by us today. As the great day of Easter approaches this year, we would like to turn our attention to the role that humility plays in our Franciscan commitment.

Both the Rule and Constitutions of the Order provide a very clear challenge to us: we are to become humble before God and one another. As the Constitutions puts it, we are to be "educated in the practice of humility." If this exhortation is to be more than a pious platitude we have to be open to being formed as humble people as we follow the footprints of Christ according to the example of the Poor Man from Assisi.

Humility: Defining the Term

Humility, comes from the Greek word "humus," which literally means "of the earth." This is significant because, according to Genesis, men and women were formed out of the "clay of the ground" by God and became living beings with the reception of the Divine breath of life (Gn. 2:7). With this in mind, humility can be understood as an acceptance of the fact that everything, including life itself, comes from the gracious gift of God and that everything ultimately depends on Him.

For many of the great saints and spiritual masters of the Church, including St. Francis, the term is often used as a synonym for self knowledge. Humility invites one to recognize who he or she is before God, a creature in relationship to the Creator. All self- understanding is based on this recognition of one’s dependence on the creative, salvific, and sustaining presence of God.

Francis and Humility

An attentive reading of Francis’ writings reveals that humility touches on the very heart of his spirituality. Humility for the Saint was not just a virtue he desired as a means of growing in the spiritual life. Rather, he understood it to be the energy or force behind Jesus’ willingness to become poor in the Incarnation, that it empowered Him to accept the passion and cross as the Father’s will, and that it continues animate His desire to be intimately present whenever the Eucharist is celebrated. Since Jesus has done all this for us, we are challenged to live as He did - to be open to the Father’s will and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Francis was very much attuned to the challenge that a right relationship with God is essential. One of the great spiritual insights of the Saint can be found in the Admonitions where he writes that:

For Francis, this means that a friar is to recognize who he is before God. That is, that everything, with the exception of sin, comes from the Lord and that men and women are made in the image and likeness of Christ. Therefore, the friars and the sisters need to live as if this were an essential reality in life.

One way that Francis lived humility was by associating himself with the minores in Assisi, the ones who were the poor and powerless in the town. It seems as though this was a deliberate decision on the Saint’s part. He recognized that Christ had embraced a way of poverty - emptying Himself of his divinity so that he could work on behalf of the people he loved and, with his mother, Mary, living a poor life energized by service and ministry for others. Therefore, it made sense to Francis that the name "Order of Friars Minor" be given to the group of men who gathered around him in a common desire to embrace a Gospel way of life. This charism, "minority," which is embraced with particular attention by our brothers in the first Order, literally means "littleness" and is inextricably linked with humility. One cannot be "minor" or "little" without embracing a life of humble submission to God. Again, the focus is on a recognition of one’s proper place before God.

Humility in the TOR Rule and Constitutions

The Rule speaks about humility in five articles which deal with the way of life we wish to live, the reception of the Eucharist, the example of Christ, and the way ministers are called to relate to the friars in their care. Of these articles, two deal with the way we wish or desire to live our lives. Article 2, which occurs after the challenge that we recognize that we are to "make greater efforts" in our "observance of the precepts and counsels of Our Lord Jesus Christ," states that we "wish to live this evangelical conversion of life in a spirit of prayer, of poverty, and of humility." The last article of the Rule repeats this exhortation:

It is interesting to note that both the opening and closing articles of Rule refer to the importance that Jesus has the one who is the model and exemplar of our lives. As such, we profess to "wish" and to "desire" to live an evangelical and humble life.

The Constitutions spell out some of the implications of this way of life. It states that our Franciscan life is one in which we are formed in the Gospel life through our profession of the evangelical counsels. Thus, we are challenged to be "educated in the practice of humility (art. 43), "converted from being proud and clever into being little and humble" (art. 94), and ready to "practice fraternal correction with charity and humility" (art.106). Thus, the Constitutions states that humility gives focus or direction to our relationship to God and to one another.

Practical Implications

Many of the exhortations on humility in the Rule and Constitutions concentrate on relationship with God and with our brothers in the fraternity. The challenge to us is very clear: we are called to be in right relationship to God, to be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and to constantly ready to follow the example of Christ. Based on this reality, we are invited to become involved in each other’s lives and to be willing to give and receive correction with humility and patience. Franciscan life is always a call to go beyond our self-concerns and to be in right relationship with brothers and sisters with whom share our lives. We are to assist each other to become authentic witnesses of the reality of God’s presence in the world. Thus, the more involved we become in our local communities the more humble we become before God. The more we distance ourselves from our brothers and sisters the less humble we are.

Another important aspect of this invitation to humility is the invitation to authentic self-knowledge. Too often humility is seen only as a recognition and acceptance of our weak and sinful natures - that we are broken people in need of God’s sustaining and forgiving love. However, true self-knowledge also invites us to recognize the good and graced areas of our lives. We are made in the image and likeness of God. We have been redeemed by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit. All of us have gifts and talents that make life beautiful and interesting. True humility invites us to recognize the talents and gifts we have and challenges us to share them as together we work for the growth of the Kingdom of God.

As we celebrate the great Solemnity of Easter this year let us be open to the challenge to grow in self knowledge before God, to love Him with a ever greater love, and to allow ourselves to be authentic with our brothers and sisters in the fraternity.