Fr. Winkowitsch’s Homily at the Convocation Mass of the Holy Spirit

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“Humility, the Foundation of All Other Virtues”

 

by Rev. John Winkowitsch, O.P. (’04)
Director of Vocations
Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus
Mass of the Holy Spirit
Convocation 2023
Thomas Aquinas College, California

 

 

“May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know ...” Mind and heart. Intellect and will. To know and to love. During this Mass of the Holy Spirit, at the beginning of this academic year, beg God to send the Holy Spirit to form both your mind and your heart into the likeness of His son; formed in humility, the foundation of all other virtues, both natural and supernatural; formed by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, sealed on your souls at Confirmation; formed by Sanctifying Grace, dwelling in your souls. Humility, confirmation, and sanctity.

 

First, Humility

Our first reading (Isaiah 42:1-3) gives us an image of our humble Savior: “Not crying out, not shouting, not making His voice heard in the street. A bruised reed He shall not break, and a smoldering wick He shall not quench.”

St. Augustine says humility is “the foundation of all the other virtues,” both natural and supernatural. How can he claim such a thing? How can humility be the foundation of both natural and supernatural virtue?

Since grace builds upon nature, let’s begin with the natural virtues. When examining the degrees of humility, St. Thomas describes how the virtue of humility influences both our intellect and will (ST II-IIq161a6c).

“Only when our arms are stretched out to grasp the extremes of humility, in imitation of Jesus on the Cross, will we have a solid foundation for both natural and supernatural virtue.”

A humble intellect means that we are in the habit of accurately judging ourselves. Intellectual humility is a virtue of truth, honesty, and intellectual integrity. As St. Vincent de Paul said, in the intellect, “humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying.”

A humble will means that we are in the habit of restraining our desires from things that are above us. Volitional humility is a virtue of peace, satisfaction, and being happy with our lot in life. As we read in The Imitation of Christ, “a proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas he who is poor and humble of heart lives in a world of peace” (Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book II, Chapter 2).

But how might such a “humble” natural virtue also be the foundation for all supernatural virtue? Well, in one of his brilliant insights, St. Thomas says the principle and root of both a humble will and a humble intellect is our reverence toward God (ST II-IIq161a6c) With this insight in mind, humility is seen as the ground for a relationship! Given this new insight, we can go back and look again, with new eyes, at how humility influences both the intellect and will supernaturally.

First, intellectual humility: How do we accurately judge ourselves when we are in a relationship with God? God is omniscient, omnipotent, perfectly good, and eternal! What are we in relation to Him? As God says to St. Catherine of Siena, “I am He Who is, and you are she who is not.” In relation to God, the truth is that we are so infinitesimal as to be nearly nothing. Yet, at the same time, we must accurately judge ourselves to be a beloved child of God, the most valuable, most lovable person in existence. Why? Because God became one of us, Jesus Christ, to show us His love, to lay down His life, to free us from our sins, and to welcome us into the eternal happiness of heaven.

Second, volitional humility: What does it mean to restrain our desires from things above us when we are in a relationship with God? The famous Litany of Humility teaches us:

From the desire of being esteemed, loved, extolled, honored, praised, preferred, consulted, approved, deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being humiliated, despised, forgotten, ridiculed, wronged, suspected, deliver me Jesus. That others may be loved more than I, esteemed more than I, may be chosen and I set aside, may be praised and I unnoticed, may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.

Wow … is such humility possible, or even desirable? Yes! But only because, at the same time, we were made to desire the One ultimate good that contains all other goods, that is, God Himself! Our heart is restless until it rests in the highest good of all, our Heavenly Father.

So, in a paradoxical way, the virtue of humility is not a mean between two extremes, but as Blaise Pascal says, we are humble “not by being at one extreme, but by touching both at once and occupying all the space in between” (Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 681/353). At one and the same time humility wants nothing yet can receive the One Who is all in all. At one and the same time humility thinks little of itself yet is loved by God Who is all good. Only when our arms are stretched out to grasp the extremes of humility, in imitation of Jesus on the Cross, will we have a solid foundation for both natural and supernatural virtue.

Second, Confirmation

Our second reading from Ephesians (1:3a, 4a, 13-19a) shows how the Holy Spirit perfects our virtues through Confirmation: You “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance.” That first installment is the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed at Confirmation; Seven gifts which perfect the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues.

The most insightful treatment I have seen of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit is by St. Augustine in On Christian Doctrine (I.7). Connecting Isaiah 11:2-3 with Proverbs 9:11, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” St. Augustine presents the Seven Gifts as steps up a ladder, as it were, ascending from the foundation of Fear of the Lord and culminating in Wisdom.

In short, (1) Fear of the Lord is the foundation of humility. (2) Piety is that enthralling first glance of Divine Love that blossoms into a desire to gain as much (3) Knowledge about that love as possible, and which forms a foundation of (4) Fortitude to endure tribulation, supported by the (5) Counsel of loving others. This leads to (6) Understanding the particular situation and the ability to act in the (7) Wisdom of the Truth.

Fear of the Lord perfects the supernatural virtue of Hope, and it’s that first experience of falling in love. You know how you are afraid to talk to that person you have a crush on? That’s a natural analogue to the Fear of the Lord.

Piety perfects the natural virtue of Justice and is a sharing in the interior life of God. More specifically, Piety perfects that part of Justice known as the virtue of Religion, which St. Thomas Aquinas calls the “greatest of all the natural virtues” (ST II-IIq81a6c).

Knowledge perfects the natural virtue of Temperance.

Fortitude perfects the natural virtue of Courage.

Counsel perfects the natural virtue of Prudence, which is discerning, deciding, and doing the good. The gift of Counsel helps us recognize God’s Will, both by giving and receiving counsel.

Understanding perfects the supernatural virtue of Faith. Understanding is the grace to see God in the midst of our stories.

Wisdom perfects the supernatural virtue of Charity. In short, wisdom is the gift to always see God, no matter what is going on in life, as our second reading from Ephesians tells us, “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of Him.”

Third, Sanctity

“A humble mind, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, can catch a glimpse of God in the physical world, and a humble will, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, can catch a glimpse of God in the human person.”

With a humble mind, strengthened by the gifts of Knowledge, Counsel, and Understanding, and with a humble will, strengthened by the gifts of Fear of the Lord, Piety, and Fortitude, and all crowned by Wisdom, then we see the result in our Gospel today: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn. 14:23-26),

There are two ways of approaching God, a twofold point of departure from creation to the Creator: A humble mind, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, can catch a glimpse of God in the physical world, and a humble will, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, can catch a glimpse of God in the human person.

In Acts chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas appeal to the first way, the physical world: “We proclaim to you good news that you should turn ... to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them” (Acts 14:15). This first approach to God was poetically presented by St. Augustine in his 241st sermon: “Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky ... question all these realities. All respond: ‘See, we are beautiful.’ Their beauty is a profession, a confession. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change?”

In today’s gospel, Jesus appeals to the second way, the human person: “Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Do you realize that our human intellect was created by God, such that we can attain to the vision of God in His essence (ST SupQ92a1c)? That’s what Jesus says right here, “I will love him and reveal myself to him.” That which is revealed is seen in its essence. How does this happen? By the Holy Spirit dwelling in us by Sanctifying Grace. Jesus continues, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” Did you catch that? We, we will come and make our dwelling. The whole Trinity dwells in us by Sanctifying Grace!

This second approach to God was also poetically presented by St. Augustine in his autobiography, The Confessions (X.27):

“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved You! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for You. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which You created. You were with me, but I was not with You. Created things kept me from You; yet if they had not been in You, they would have not been at all. You called, You shouted, and You broke through my deafness. You flashed, You shone, and You dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted You, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.”

Conclusion

Seek humility, embrace the Gifts of the Holy Spirit by living in a state of Sanctifying Grace, and then, as Jesus concludes our Gospel, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My name — He will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

 

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