St. Thomas Day Homily: The Universal Doctor on Humility

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By Rev. Stephen Brock
University of Chicago
Homily from St. Thomas Day
January 27, 2023

Jesus says, “Do not be called Rabbi; do not be called Father; do not be called Master” (Mt. 23:8-12). As you may have noticed, he never says, “Do not be called Tutor.” So that is OK.

But, of course, what really concerns Our Lord is not just the title or rank that we have or that we aspire to. What concerns him is our deep tendency to compare ourselves with the others and to be so focused on our own status as to lose sight of the big picture. He says it three times: “You have but one teacher; you have but one father; you have but one master.”

St. Thomas, in his commentary on this passage, poses a question: What does the Lord mean, that you have but one teacher? And at once Thomas answers. We must say that he is properly called a teacher who has his teaching from himself, not he who disseminates a teaching received from another. Thus, there is only one teacher, God, who alone has his own teaching. All truth originates in God. He is the sole auctoritas, the one real authority.

However, St. Thomas then goes on to explain that there is still a sense in which there can be, and are, many teachers; namely, in ministerio, in service. If, he says, you seek authority — as though you were the very source, the origin, of your teaching — then you seek what belongs to God; but if you seek service, you seek what belongs to humility.

Humility. That is the whole point; that so difficult virtue. How can we tell if we have it? Are you humble? You may have heard that old saying, “If you think you are humble, then of course you are proud. But if you think you are proud … you are right!”

So, is there then no escape? Well, pride is certainly not easy to overcome, but humility is possible. The saints show us that. However, if we are going to acquire it, we need to understand it. St. Thomas, you know, gave a lot of importance to good definitions. He thought we needed them not only in theoretical matters like mathematics or physics, but also in practical matters. How can we strive for a certain virtue, such as humility, if we do not know what it is? And I do think that we might easily have the wrong idea about it.

We tend to think — do we not? — that to be proud is to have a high opinion of yourself and that to be humble is to have a low opinion of yourself. But that cannot be right, can it? After all, no one is more humble than Jesus, yet he calls himself Master and Lord. But pride and humility are not mainly in your opinion about yourself. They are not in what you think, Thomas explains, but in what you desire. He defines pride as the immoderate desire for excellence — wanting excessively to stand out. Humility is moderation in that desire. So you may be very excellent in some way, and you may know it, but you can still be humble, if you are not too attached to your excellence. On the other hand, you may be of lower rank, and know it, but if it makes you sad or disturbs your peace, you are proud.

Now, once we understand what pride is, we can see that there is an escape. We escape it, not by thinking badly about ourselves, but simply by thinking less about ourselves; that is, by giving less importance to how we compare with others. Three things can help here.

The first is straight from today’s Gospel. Think about the one teacher, God — about His incomparable excellence; and think about the fact that He is your Father. Be proud of that! That is a good pride. And then you will see that all the differences among us are quite trivial; and, you will see that, as Jesus says, we are all siblings, little children of the same Father, and that we can rejoice in the others’ good qualities as much as in our own.

The second thing is in the Gospel, too. The greatest among you must be your servant. This is the humility of Jesus, is it not? His whole life was one of service — service to his Father and to us. Joyful service, of course; loving service. It is this spirit of service that characterizes all the saints, from the most lowly to the most outstanding and famous.

There is a lovely episode in the life of St. Thomas that shows how excellence can go with humility, how the greatest can be the servant. It took place when he was already a famous theologian — famous and controversial. The occasion was the ceremony for the inauguration of a young master of theology at the University of Paris. That was a major event. It was a two-day affair, and it took place in the presence of the entire faculty.

On the afternoon of the first day, the young master gave a lecture in which he directly attacked a position that everyone knew to be held by St. Thomas. Thomas certainly got the point. But he remained calm and said nothing. Later that evening, however, some of his students complained to him, saying that he should not have allowed such an insult to the truth. He replied that one ought to be lenient with a new master at his inauguration, and not mortify him in front of the others. But, he said, alright, tomorrow we will see.

So, the next day, the young master went on the attack again. And this time, Thomas stood up. I suppose his students wanted him to flatten the fellow. But that is not exactly what he did. His biographer says, with all moderation, Thomas led the young master to acknowledge his error and to humbly ask to make him understand the truth more fully. Thomas did so. That is excellence with humility, desiring only to serve God and souls.

Thomas’s final gloss on today’s Gospel concerns the words, whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. As if in confirmation, he simply cites the Magnificat: He has cast down the powerful from their throne and exalted the humble. Really the confirmation is Mary herself. The handmaiden is Queen, and all generations do call her blessed. So here is the third, best thing to do for humility: Go to Mary daily, as a little child, and ask for it. Few things could be more pleasing to her Son.

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