Humility and Charity Above All Other Virtues

For humility caused the Son of God to be born of the Virgin, in whom was found humility, not eager embraces or beauty of flesh or earthly riches or gold ornaments or earthly honors.  But the Son of God lay in a manger, because His Mother was a poor maiden.  Humility always groans, weeps and destroys all offenses, for this is its work.  So let anyone who wishes to conquer the Devil arm himself with humility, since Lucifer frevertly flees it and hides in its presence like a snake in a hole; for wherever it finds him, it quickly snaps him like a fragile thread.

And charity took the Only-Begotten of God, who was in the bosom of the Father in Heaven, and placed Him in the wormb of a mother on earth, for it does not spurn sinners or publicans but seeks to save all.  Therefore it often brings forth a fountain of tears from the eyes of the faithful, thus softening hardness of heart.  In this, humility and charity are brighter than the other virtues, since humility and charity are like a soul and body that possess stronger powers than the other powers of soul and bodily members.  How?  Humility is like the soul and charity like the body, and they cannot be separated from each other but work together, just as soul and body cannot be disjoined but work together as long as a person lives in the body.  And as the various members of the body are subject, according to their powers, to the soul and to the body, so also the other virtues cooperate, according to their justice, with humility and charity.  And therefore, O human, for the glory of God and for your salvation, pursue humility and charity; armed with them, you shall not fear the Devil's snares but shall have everlasting life.

Therefore whoever has knowledge in the Holy Spirit and wings of faith, let this one not ignore My admonition, but taste it, embrace it and receive it in his soul.

from Creation and Christ, The Wisdom of Hildegard of Bingen

Note:  On October 7, 2012, Pope Benedict opened the Synod on the New Evangelization by naming St. Hildegard of Bingen as a new doctor of the Church along with St. John of God. 

Temptations and Trails, Part V

The question is whether this positive view of temptations can help us today.  For one thing, the perspective might liberate us from a false striving for perfection.  Those for whom everything depends upon being correct will miss out on life for fear of making some mistake.  Their lives will atrophy.  They will, it is true, be correct, but not vital and capacious.  Coming to terms with temptation, the certainty that temptation is a part of us, make us more human, or, as the monks say, humbler.  It shows us that we are alays under attack, that we can never claim to stand above all temptations, that hatred and jealousy, say, or adultery are not problem for us.  Anyone who maintains that he would never betray his wife or girlfriend has not yet encountered his own heart.  Coming to terms with temptation makes us alert. 

We sometimes have a false image of holiness.  We think that the saints are beyond all temptations, but that's wrong.  Knowing about temptation without being overpowered by it is a way that keeps us alive, that concintually reminds us that we cannot make ourselves better, that only God can transform us.  Only God can give us the victory in the battle with temptations, can bring us profound peace that can't be experienced as intensely without a struggle.

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

Temptations and Trails, Part IV

Without temptation the monks become careless.  They let themselves go, and so live any old way.  Temptatins force them to live consciously, to exercise discipline, and to be wakeful.  Thus the monks don't pray for temptations to stop, but for God to Give them enough strength...

Temptation forces us to fight.  Without a fight there is no victory.  But victory is never something we have earned.  In our struggles we learn that Christ is working with us, that he frees us for endless conflict and gives us a profound peace.

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

Temptations and Trials, Part III

Temptation brings us closer to God.  That is how Isaac of Nineveh saw it:  "Without temptation there is no gaining trust in him, or learning the wisdom of the spirit, or solidifying the love of God in the soul.  Before temptations you pray to God as if you were a stranger.  After you have been withstood the temptations out of love for him, without letting yourself be led astray by them, God looks upon you as one who has lent to him and who is entitled to the interest, and as a friend who has fought for him will against the power of the enemies."  His words show that the monks had no anxiety about temptations or about sin.  The monks who fall into temptation become familiar with God in a new way.  At the same time in temptations they sense the nearness of God more deeply than usual.

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

Temptations and Trials, Part II

...by temptations the monks mean thoughts in our mind, passions, and demons.  These temptations are an essential part of us.  They test us, try us, and leave us the better for it.  But this also means that we can't come to God with a clean slate.  Our task is rather to take part in the fight with the demons and to be wounded over and over again by it. 

The monks don't insist that we be perfect and flawless, correct and without stain.  Those who get to know the demons in temptatin will encounter the truth of their souls.  They will discover in themselves the abyss of the unconscious:  murderous thoughts, sadistic imaginatings, immoral fantacies.  We become mature persons only when we confront these truths, when we prove ourselves in temptations.

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen

Temptations and Trials, Part I

The struggle with temptations and trials is an essential part of being human.  We must deal with the fact that we are tempted by our passions.  The monks speak of demons fighting with us.  By that they mean the forces that emerge in us, that pull us one way or another, that we do not consciously want.  They focus on the experience that we are not simple and straightforward, that we are tossed here and there by various thoughts and feelings.  And they use those terms to describe the forces that we have buried in our shadow side, the unconscious.  Despite our attempt to be decent, the thought occurs to us to throw everything overboard, to simply dispense with the commandments.  For all our amiability we sometimes think that what we'd really like to do is kill our neighbor.  It would be naive to say that it's enough to keep the commandments and to will the good.  There is a raging conflict in our heart between good and evil, between light and darkness, between love and hatred.  For the monks this is perfectly normal.  It's not wrong; it's the test that make us tried and true.  Nowadays we might say that it's a way to live with greater awareness.  The monks know about their shadow side; they come to terms with the fact that their unconscious harbors forces that they do not know yet, that they have to be careful with.

Temptations, the monks tell us, make us human.  They bring us into contact with the roots that bear the trunk.  Facing temptations means encountering the truth.  Thus one father says:  "Take away temptations, and no one will be whole, for whoever flees useful temptation, flees eternal life.  There are in fact temptations that have prepared crowns for the saints."

from Heaven Begins Within You

by Anselm Gruen