Sophie, a cleaning woman, was Catholic. One of the gentlemen in the large building where she worked said to her, “Hey, Sophie, I understand that you are a Christian.” “Yes, sir, I am a child of God, my Lord and my King,” was her immediate reply. “Oh! So, you must be a princess, since God is your King.” “I am sure, I am.” “Well, if God is your Father, and you are a princess and a child of a King, do you not think that it is beneath your dignity to be found here scrubbing these dirty steps?” She proudly replied, “There is no humiliation however, since I am not scrubbing these steps for my boss, but rather, I am scrubbing them for Jesus Christ, my Savior!”
Her answer was based on the virtue of humility. Humility gives the answer to these questions: what is my authentic reality? What is my authentic relationship with God? What is the place I occupy in front of God? Who am I for God?
Hence, humility makes us discover the true meaning of things that humiliate us. What humiliates us? Usually, the things that are against our desires or our will (for example: because I am a son of a King I do not want this work or this illness or whatever). Many times, the reality we live is contrary to our desires or our will. If we do not see that contradiction as God’s Will for our lives, then that contradiction will humiliate us.
We need a profound interior life in order to be humble, particularly when reality (or more properly, God’s Will) humiliates us. We must work on our spiritual life, particularly on the virtue of humility, in order to accept the reality (that opposes our will) as a reality that comes from our loving Father in heaven. When something contradicts me and I complain about it, it means that self-love is guiding me in that complaint. If I want to be the one to choose the crosses that I will carry, I will often be humiliated by the circumstances of life. Humility means recognizing that I am a son or daughter of God and that this reality (that contradicts me) comes from God, my Father, in order to sanctify me. If I allow humility to guide my life when something goes against me, I will be able to say: “there is no humiliation however, since, God sent it for the sake of my salvation.”
