Benedict reminds us that every moment of our lives is lived in the presence of God. Every action, every thought, every longing of the heart is known to God. This is not meant to frighten us. It is meant to awaken us.
We are in God, and God is in us.
Perhaps the image of the wave and the ocean will help us understand. A wave rises from the ocean. For a moment it appears to have an existence of its own. It has shape and movement and power. But the wave has never ceased to be the ocean. It cannot exist apart from the ocean. Its life, its strength, its very being come from the vastness beneath it.
So it is with us and God.
We are not God, but neither do we live apart from God. “In him we live and move and have our being.” We rise from the mystery of God's creative love, are sustained by that love, and ultimately return everything we are to God.
Humility begins when we remember this—when this becomes the foundation on which we build.
Then pride begins to loosen its hold. The demands of the flesh lose some of their power. We stop imagining ourselves to be the center of existence and begin to recognize our place within the great mystery of creation.
But this awareness must be tended. We must continually fan the spiritual fire within us.
The first step of humility is not simply avoiding sin. It is nurturing the presence of God within until the love of God begins to impel everything we do. And when we truly love God, we inevitably begin to love what God loves—the world, the stranger, the difficult person, the forgotten person, every child of God.
Humility becomes love.
around me, and in every person I meet.
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