By / par Christian Tessier
| This blog is not entirely a new one. When I shared my reflection on André Bessette’s epitaph, «Pauper, Servus et Humilis», which appears above his tomb, (see For or against poverty? / Pour ou contre la pauvreté?, from last October 4th), I was planning to write 3 blogs, one on each virtue of the epitaph. | Ce blogue n’est pas entièrement nouveau. Lorsque j’avais entrepris ma réflexion sur l’épitaphe «Pauper, Servus et Humilis», qui apparaît au-dessus du tombeau d’André Bessette (voir For or against poverty? / Pour ou contre la pauvreté? du 4 octobre dernier) je m’étais proposé d’écrire trois blogues, un sur chacune des «vertus» de l’épitaphe. |
| The discussion on my blog dealing with poverty («pauper») was well engaged when an anglophone commentator, Ryan McIllrick, asked whether I would follow-up with the other two topics of the trilogy, namely a blog on «humilis» and on «servus». The question was being asked, though, on another blog « Physical healings, the true motives for Andre Bessette’s canonization? / Les guérisons, le vrai motif pour la canonisation d’André Bessette? », the commentator thinking that the discussion in english was restricted to that blog. As Blogues@rebours was getting near its October 17th deadline, and since that commentator was anglophone, my reply was in English, in the form of a comment. So, my reflection on «humilis» was in English only, and still on the page of my blog on « Physical healings, the true motives for Andre Bessette’s canonization ? / Les guérisons, le vrai motif pour la canonisation d’André Bessette ? ». My reply to Ryan McIllrick was followed by several other comments on the same topic of «humilis», from different individuals, but always in English. | Les échanges sur mon blogue traitant de la pauvreté («pauper») étaient bien engagés, lorsqu’un commentateur anglophone, Ryan McIllrick, m’a demandé si je donnerais suite à ce premier blogue de la trilogie avec des blogues sur «humilis» et «servus». Il me posait sa question sur un autre blogue «Physical healings, the true motives for Andre Bessette’s canonization? / Les guérisons, le vrai motif pour la canonisation d’André Bessette?» croyant que la discussion en anglais se faisait surtout sur ce blogue. Comme l’échéancier de Blogues@rebours du 17 octobre approchait, et que mon interlocuteur était anglophone, j’ai donné suite à sa demande sous forme de commentaire, et présenté ma réflexion sur «humilis» en anglais seulement, toujours sur la page de «Physical healings, the true motives for Andre Bessette’s canonization ? / Les guérisons, le vrai motif pour la canonisation d’André Bessette ?». Mon commentaire sur «humilis» fut alors suivi de plusieurs autres commentaires sur le sujet, en provenance d’intervenants de langue anglaise. |
| By electing to proceed in that fashion, we were simultaneously putting an end to the discussion on the topic of physical healings, a discussion that was progressing very well. We may have also contributed to exclude potential francophone contributors to these two discussions: on physical healings and on humility. | En procédant ainsi, nous avons en quelque sorte mis un terme à la discussion sur le thème des guérisons physiques qui allaient bon train, et nous avons peut-être contribué à exclure certains commentateurs francophones de ces deux discussions: sur les guérisons physiques et l’humilité. |
| In order to remedy to the situation, and to allow fresh comments on the topic, I hereby re-introduce my reflection on «humilis» as a full-fledged blog, in both official languages, and followed by the comments already received. | Dans le but de remédier à la situation et permettre l’apport de nouveaux commentaires, je reproduis ici ma réflexion sur le «humilis» de l’épitaphe, maintenant présentée comme un blogue à part entière, c’est-à-dire dans les deux langues et suivi des commentaires déjà reçus. |
| I take this opportunity to remind our readers and contributors, francophones and anglophones, that it is always possible to intervene either in French or English, not only on my blogs, but on any blog from the other four bloggers. We realize that someone may be able to understand a language very well, without necessarily feeling adequately comfortable to express an opinion in it. | J’en profite pour mentionner à tous nos lecteurs et participants, anglophones et francophones, qu’il est toujours possible d’intervenir dans l’une ou l’autre langue sur tous les blogues, non seulement sur les miens. Car on peut très bien comprendre une autre langue sans toutefois être à l’aise pour exprimer sa pensée dans celle-ci. |
| André Bessette as a model of humility! That might be a tough sell in today’s society where success is a measure of one’s own capabilities, and you have to sell your abilities in order to carve yourself a place and gain respect. What about respect of authority, honesty, doing what is being asked of you, wanting only to do God’s will through simple, sometimes demeaning tasks. This is how André Bessette was humble. But it never stopped him from doing what was necessary to build a sanctuary where Joseph his patron saint, the patron saint of Canada, would be honored. «A magnificence,…a history,…a soul, your Oratory» one can read on the home page of Saint Joseph’s Oratory’s web site. Isn’t there a contradiction? Why such an impressive sanctuary, built by the humble doorkeeper, for his patron saint, himself a model of humility for all? That far exceeds André Bessette’s ideal of humility, don’t you think? I have read a lot of what has been said about André Bessette and I think Father Grou, the current rector of the Oratory, offers an interesting insight about his humility: “This is how I interpret the humility of Brother André. His attitude was never one of false humility, through which one depreciates oneself, or considers oneself as unworthy amongst others. Brother André, as a man of great humility that he was, had a wise appreciation for the gifts God bestowed upon him. His humility was that of the strongwilled, that which does not have to prove one’s greatness to others.” I think the path is pretty well laid out. What do you think? | André Bessette un modèle d’humilité! Une idée peut-être un peu difficile à faire avaler de nos jours surtout dans une société qui jauge les aptitudes d’un individu à ses réussites, et pour être en mesure de vous tailler une place sous le soleil, vous devez faire preuve de finesse et d’astuce, comme un bon vendeur. Que dire du respect de l’autorité, de l’honnêteté, de faire ce qu’on vous demande, de ne vouloir qu’accomplir la volonté de Dieu à travers toutes ces tâches quotidiennes, si abaissantes soient-elles. Voilà comment André Bessette était humble. Cependant cela ne l’a jamais empêché de faire tout ce qui était en son pouvoir pour mener à bien l’érection d’un sanctuaire en l’honneur de Joseph, son saint patron et le patron du Canada. «Une magnificence,…une histoire,…une âme, votre Oratoire» peut-on lire sur la page d’accueil du site web de l’Oratoire Saint-Joseph. Mais n’y a-t-il pas là contradiction? Pourquoi un sanctuaire aussi imposant, construit par un humble portier, pour son saint patron, lui-même un modèle d’humilité pour tous? Cela ne dépasse-t-il pas largement l’idéal d’humilité d’André Bessette? Je me suis renseigné auprès de plusieurs sources sur André Bessette et je crois que c’est le père Grou, le recteur actuel de l’Oratoire Saint-Joseph, qui offre l’explication la plus intéressante sur l’humilité d’André Bessette: «C’est ainsi que je comprends l’humilité de frère André. Dans cette attitude, il n’y a rien de cette fausse humilité par laquelle la personne se déprécie ou se considère indigne devant les autres. Frère André, en homme d’une grande humilité, avait une sage estime des dons que Dieu lui avait faits. Son humilité était celle des forts, celle qui n’a pas besoin de prouver aux autres sa grandeur.» La marche à suivre est bien établie, qu’en pensez-vous? |
@ Ryan McIllrick
Your comment is greatly appreciated. Welcome to the ongoing discussion on the virtues of André Bessette. The epitaph above his tomb reads «Pauper, Servus, Humilis». I want to make it clear that the accepted translation in english would read «Poor, Servant, Humble». The etymological meaning of «guardian» for «servus» disappeared over time, and the word kept the more modern meaning of «servant». With the canonization being so close, the influx of comments has doubled, and we have been pressed for time. But rest assured that my next two blogs will address the other two virtues, humble and servant (guardian). The two blogs should publish in the next few days. Francine Pelletier will officially announce on our home page, Blogue@rebours, what will happen between now and the end of the month. Stay tuned, there is more to come.
@ Ryan McIllrick
Thanks for your patience. When I replied earlier, I indicated initially that there would be 2 final blogs to deal with the other two «virtues» from André Bessette’s epitaph: humility («humilis») and service («servus»). Well, I will have to fulfill that commitment in a different fashion since we have decided not to publish new blogs after October 17th, but instead to focus on answering questions from readers that have yet to be dealt with. So, let’s talk about humility first.
André Bessette as a model of humility! That might be a tough sell in today’s society where success is a measure of one’s own capabilities, and you have to sell your abilities in order to carve yourself a place and gain respect. What about respect of authority, honesty, doing what is being asked of you, wanting only to do God’s will through simple, sometimes demeaning tasks. This is how André Bessette was humble. But it never stopped him from doing what was necessary to build a sanctuary where Joseph his patron saint, the patron saint of Canada, would be honored. «A magnificence,…a history,…a soul, your Oratory» one can read on the home page of Saint Joseph’s Oratory’s web site. Isn’t there a contradiction? Why such an impressive sanctuary, built by the humble doorkeeper, for his patron saint, himself a model of humility for all? That far exceeds André Bessette’s ideal of humility, don’t you think? I have read a lot of what has been said about André Bessette and I think Father Grou, the current rector of the Oratory, offers an interesting insight about his humility: “This is how I interpret the humility of Brother André. His attitude was never one of false humility, through which one depreciates oneself, or considers oneself as unworthy amongst others. Brother André, as a man of great humility that he was, had a wise appreciation for the gifts God bestowed upon him. His humility was that of the strongwilled, that which does not have to prove one’s greatness to others.” I think the path is pretty well laid out. What do you think?
@ Christian
Thanks for your answer, I was in fact waiting… What I find strange, is that everyone seems associate humility with something unpleasant, as if it reduces one’s value as a person. When you refer to humility you put it in the following context : ‘ to want only to do God’s will through simple, sometimes demeaning tasks.’ I don’t know which demeaning tasks you are refering to but I don’t think any task is demeaning,
The way you say : ‘Why such an impressive sanctuary, built by the humble doorkeeper’, seems to indicate that he his humble because of his job or what he does, not because of who he is. I would have said: built by such a humble man, otherwise you can exclude a lot of people in society, managers, for example, from being able to be humble.
The reason why I bring this up is that I am a manager and I am trying to figure out how I can be humble. For example what do you, as a scientist with a PhD in Chemistry, do to be humble, what are your tricks? What I try to do is to not judge people and to be grateful to God for what I have…but is that enough?
@ Christian
Hello Christian,
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you! I was wondering when you would comment again.
The dictionary defines humility as: An act of submission or deference. So as a Christian, wouldn’t to be humble mean to submit oneself to God.
I find that so many people have this outdated definition of humility as someone who is modest or servile.
I watched Brother Andre’s canonization and have been thinking about the Pope’s sermon where there the Gospel was about this widow that kept bothering the judge and the judge got so annoyed that he ended up accepting her claim just to get rid of her. And he said that if a judge with questionable ethics ends up giving in to a widow, how much more God, who is good will grant us what we are asking for. And the Pope said that in today’s world we are soooooo busy that we don’t have the time to pray. He said that our problem was that we had it backwards and that if we prayed, we might not be so busy because God would help us. We rely on our own strengths rather than ask God for his help… maybe this is where in today’s world we lack humility.
You say ‘Brother André, as a man of great humility that he was, had a wise appreciation for the gifts God bestowed upon him. His humility was that of the strongwilled, that which does not have to prove one’s greatness to others.” …
In today’s world, people are experts in assessing their strengths and promoting their talents. The problem is that they want to do it all themselves, they aren’t too good at thanking God for the gifts bestowed upon them, nor at asking for His help or His counsel on things. That is probably why so many people are frazzled and worn-out. Because I think that if you don’t ask God to help you or enlighten you on what you should do, then it becomes a constant comparison with others and an unending frenzy to out perform the other.
So how does ‘Humble’ Brother Andre fit in today’s society? I think he was truly humble in that he was entirely submitted to God and God in return gave him the strength to do what He carved out for him. He clearly had a poor health but with his trust in God’s judgement and knowing that God would give him what he needed, he never shied away from what was asked of him. In my opinion, humility = acknowledging that God is the one leading the show and that He will give us what we need. But the prerequisite to humility is prayer because we need that relationship with God to dialogue with Him in all honesty and be open to what He has to say … What do you think?
@Ryan
I am following this conversation since the beginning and I, as a christian, have also difficulties to figure out what exactly humility is. As a matter of fact, one can be a doorkeeper and be arrogant; in the opposite way one can be a manager and be an humble man. You are right to point out that no task is demeaning. This is an important aspect. However, I noticed that as far as humility is concerned, I think we can’t have control of it. In my opinion, we don’t have a recipe to progress towards it. Instead, God purifies our pride somehow through circumstances of our life. As Christian said in his commentary, and also Theresa, if we do God’s will and be humble enough to pray to do it in a correct manner, we will consequently discover who we are exactly in the process. To me, humility is to see the truth in one self’s. If we do accept the way God treats us in our daily life, I am sure we will become humble men and women. That also means that God glorifies himself through each of us, no matter what our job is, as he did with André Bessette. That is what He wants.
@ Vanessa
Thanks for your comment Vanessa. There is something calming about it. I guess in today’s world we want the recipe for instant perfection and again, want to perfect ourselves by our own means rather than letting the circumstances of our lives (guided by God) mould us into becoming who we really are. It doesn’t mean to be passive about it but it does mean that we should be patient.
@ Ryan, Theresa
Thanks to both of you for being so prompt to reply to a comment that had been long in the waiting. What you said has made me take a good look at how I conduct myself as a scientist.
To always behave ethically is not easy, nor straightforward. Self-reliance comes naturally, just as a reflex, because we are taught and trained to function independently, to rely on our own strengths, abilities, knowledge and expertise. As you pointed out, Theresa, in difficult situations, when dealing with multidimensional issues, we have to acknowledge our shortcomings and our limitations, especially when we are overwhelmed, and turn to God to humbly ask for assistance, guidance, or counsel. As you suggested, maybe the road to humility starts with the recognition that what we have, our job security, education, family, friends and relationships, we owe it to God, and we should be thankful for it. Once the source of these gifts has been acknowledged, it may be easier for us scientists to avoid behaving as “high priests” of a privileged caste, a fount of knowledge and truth. In day-to-day activities, scientific problems that we need to solve are frequently mixed with ethical and moral issues. In our work environment, we are connected to people, and we make an impact on issues of social significance. Bottom line, what you are suggesting, Theresa, is that as christian scientists, we change gear, and shift into humility, to deal with these situations.
It is true that humility is perceived by society as «unpleasant», unappealing. I agree with your statement that no task is demeaning, but can be perceived as such by society. True humility may be to accept to perform those tasks in the same spirit as André Bessette did: to welcome them as God’s will, and to accomplish them to the best of our abilities, for the glory of God.
The association of the terms «humble doorkeeper» with the «impressive sanctuary…..magnificence…» was meant to shock the reader, to draw attention to the fact that even tough as humble as he was, André Bessette did accomplish something grandiose, something that, again, society could view as out of character (not so humble after all). This goes along the idea Theresa brought up in her opening lines, that often we look at «this outdated definition of humility as someone who is modest or servile», hence André Bessette should have been modestly content with the small chapel, as Joseph’s Oratory. But no, building the Oratory to honor Joseph was, for André Bessette, an «act of submission» to God’s will, for His glory.
In paraphrasing Theresa’s comment, I have tried to highlight a few «tricks» from my own experience. Now, being thankful to God for the job He has given you, for your talent, your wisdom, etc, I believe is definitely a good start. But as far as «judging people», very likely, in your assignments as a manager, you will be asked, at least annually, to review the performance of people who report to you. Personally, I find it hard to manage people’s careers, without somehow judging them, even though the « measuring stick » is a set of criteria and standards established by the employer. In order to do it with the right balance of wisdom, truthfulness and justice, God’s help is likely to be needed.
I hope this is helpful.
@ Vanessa and Ryan
I’m not sure that we are positing the considerations on humility at the right level.
We could ask ourselves the following question: is being humble meaning being small with respect to someone who is greater?
Would Saint Andre Bessette say: I am the smaller one and the other is greater than I?
In fact, as Theresa pointed out, humility is often a factor of comparison. The use of the term ‘demeaning’ is symptomatic in itself. I find it quite justified that Ryan and Vanessa feel a certain reticence with respect to using the term.
If we push further the possible signification of ‘demeaning’ by breaking out the word with the prefix ‘de’ and ‘meaning’ where meaning is used in the sense of signifying something (meaning something), we can ask ourselves if the real issue related to humility is not the loss of meaning with respect to ourselves, that we could translate as the loss of identity or the calling into question of an image that we have of ourselves.
A ‘demeaning’ task is only demeaning to the extent that the task itself is considered as degrading. Then, as Christian implies, if God can ask us to do degrading tasks, it could mean that God can ask us to call into question our own meaning or significance. But does he?
At the end, the issue is to know what is the basis of our own significance, our own being in the world, how we define ourselves. But can we?
The approach that Jesus takes in all these considerations is always relative. The example of the widow’s offering shows that Jesus takes into consideration the intrinsic value (qualitative) of the gift with respect to the person’s specific situation, so that the ‘qualification’ of the gift in no way depends on another person’s gift. Therefore, the value of one’s gift is established by Jesus in relationship to ourself and not in relationship to someone else’s gift that would be a thousand times wealthier (quantitative). I think that we can extend this simple example to all other situations in our life. It is also in this train of thought that Jesus talks about the parable of the talents: the value that each one represents is in relation to who the person is.
Humility is therefore not to be greater or less. It is to be perfect like our Heavenly Father is perfect, in other words, to correspond to our own nature. The problem begins the moment we start to compare ourselves, because the necessity of my neighbor is not my own necessity, my neighbor’s vocation is not my vocation.
@M. Tessier et à tous
Je vous soumets ce commentaire écrit il y a quelques temps. La discussion ayant pris une autre direction, je ne l’avais pas mis en ligne. Comme vous nous relancez sur le même sujet, le voici avec un complément en français.
Concernant l’humilité ou plutôt l’orgueil, Josh nous dit que le problème commence lorsque nous commençons à nous comparer aux autres. Je me demande si, à l’inverse de se comparer, il ne faudrait pas plutôt se considérer les uns les autres. J’avais quelques restrictions en lien avec cette phrase de St Paul «que chacun, par humilité, estime les autres supérieurs à soi» (Ph 2,3) mais je me dois de conclure que puisque seul Dieu est juge, cette interpellation est incontournable, terriblement vraie et plus qu’à propos. Je me demande également si, loin d’être en rapport avec ce que nous sommes, l’humilité est plutôt en lien avec notre acceptation plus ou moins grande de la «suprématie de Dieu» (j’emprunte l’expression d’Hélèna reprise par Mme Pelletier). D’autant plus qu’estimer les autres supérieurs, c’est prétendre et confirmer la présence de Dieu en chacun. Notre façon d’estimer les autres est donc un miroir d’humilité. Je m’explique ainsi l’humilité de St André Bessette et sa «puissance» d’intercession auprès de St Joseph. Je l’imagine mal se poser la question : «comment être humble ?» cela m’explique aussi l’inexplicable, c.-à-d. la profondeur de son amour, de sa considération et de sa compassion pour les autres ainsi que le bien infini qui n’en fini pas de jaillir.
Everyone’s contribution to this discussion is amazing, I’m very impressed.
Ryan had asked this question : » I am a manager and I am trying to figure out how I can be humble. », it’s a good question, but a tricky one! Instead of focussing on how we should act to be humble, we must be able to accept the value of each person. Maybe real humility is not in relation to the way we are but in relation to the way we treat, see and love others. Theresa said : » learn to accept who our neighbour is as well » I agree with her, but we should go further than that and consider others better than ourselves. We all have heard once this admonition of St. Paul
Do we treat others better than ourselves? I’m pretty sure that we will all answer no to this question or we will answer yes, but not completly. In fact, we are very good to judge who is or isn’t better than ourselves.
The reality is that humility is far from us and we will have to run our whole life to catch it. Maybe, if we are able to apply this admonition of St. Paul in our life, in rebound it will change us and lead us toward humility.
I’m shure that Joseph knows a lot about this topic. It was said in another blog that Joseph is powerful, I’m wondering if humility has something to do with that? If I was God, I wouldn’t hesitate to give my power to this truly humble man because I would be sure that this power would be well used.
Bonjour M. Tessier et à vous blogueurs qui avez blogué sur l’humilité. J’ai lu avec beaucoup d’intérêt vos différents échanges. Cela est très enrichissant et m’a amené à réaliser à quel point je méconnaissais le sujet. Il m’est difficile même d’y trouver une application ajustée pour notre temps et facilement exprimable. Vous m’avez certes donné des pistes de réflexion que je compte approfondir. Qu’est-ce que l’humilité? Comment puis-je la vivre concrètement? Je me pose et repose ces questions et je me dis que c’est sans doute très beau l’humilité. N’est-ce pas intimement liée à la vérité, la confiance en Dieu et l’ouverture aux autres? Ca rend sans doute heureux et libre de coeur? Qu’en dites-vous?
@ P. Sazonado
Comme vous, je crois que l’humilité est liée à la vérité. Pour la vivre concrètement j’essai d’être attentif dans la vie courante, surtout dans mes rapports avec les autres, aux forces qui agissent en moi, principalement les résistances et même les douleurs de la contradiction, de la remise en question. Quand ça fait mal ou que ça provoque de la colère c’est souvent que l’humilité est sollicitée. J’essai aussi de ne pas m’affirmer avec certitude, de conserver un doute sur moi-même, surtout quand je suis très très sûr de moi. J’essai de me souvenir des moments ou j’ai eu tort alors que je croyais dur comme fer que j’avais raison. J’essai de ne pas me cacher si j’ai commis une erreur et surtout de ne pas mentir pour me couvrir. Ce sont tous des exercices très concret que je suis appellé à refaire sans cesse.
@Jean-Jacques Ferland-Simard e.c
Curieusement, j’ai l’impression, dans mon cas, que c’est de m’affirmer, de tenir à mon idée qui me demande plus d’humilité. Ce serait tellement plus simple de donner raison à l’autre sans discuter, sans prendre le risque de mon tromper. L’humilité prend peut-être des formes différentes selon les tempéraments et les failles initiales qu’il y a en chacun? Et ça fait mal la plupart du temps.
@ Pascale
Ah oui, vous avez raison il y bien des nuances et la question des tempéraments est juste. Les sexes aussi peut-être? Y a-t-il des formes d’orgueuil féminin et masculin? Je le crois bien. Mais il y a aussi des choses en commun. Je remarque que nous craignons tous deux l’erreur, non pas d’abord pour les conséquences directes de celle-ci mais pour les dommages faits à notre image, surtout l’image que nous avons de nous même. Dans ce sens je dois faire attention de ne pas cultiver cette image en m’affirmant trop et vous en ne vous affirmant pas assez. Subtil…
@ Jean-Jacques Ferland-Simard e.c., P. Sazonado
Vos deux commentaires (du 17 novembre 2010) sont très appréciés, et très à point: j’aime bien cette approche de « réduction à la pratique » en ce qui concerne l’humilité. Je crois que l’humilité est une façon d’être, mais cependant très ancrée dans le concret de nos relations et interactions avec l’autre. Elle façonne notre relation avec Dieu, et avec les autres que nous côtoyons. En ce sens l’approche décrite par Jean-Jacques Ferland-Simard m’attire par son analyse de comportement/positionnement: n’est-ce pas une façon de reconnaître les symptômes de l’orgueil, afin de mieux le contrer, et de développer, prudemment, les traits d’une humilité plus authentique ?
@ Pascale et Jean-Jacques Ferland-Simard.
Merci d’avoir souligné cette dimension de l’humilité. De parler si ouvertement de cette image que nous passons tant de temps à façonner, entretenir, et protéger est déjà en soi une démarche d’humilité. Votre réflexion m’a fait revoir mes positions.
Si je me façonne une image, n’est-ce pas parce que, jusqu’à un certain point, j’ai de la difficulté à accepter qui je suis ? à accepter mes limites ? Sur quoi, ou sur qui, est-ce que je m’appuie pour combler ces lacunes ? Fondamentalement, est-ce que je reconnais mon impuissance sans le soutien de Dieu ?
M. Tessier,
Intervenir sur ce blogue est impliquant, j’ai hésité, mais bon, il faut bien se mouiller un peu dans la vie! J’avoue que j’avais peu d’attrait pour l’humilité, d’autant plus qu’ordinairement lorsqu’il est question d’analyser nos comportements: vous parlez « de réduction à la pratique », je décroche rapidement. Comme je ne suis pas de nature à me comparer ou à envier les talents des autres, l’humilité n’était pas dans ma liste de priorités.
Je ne suis pas très religieux mais profondément attiré, intéressé à vivre un rapport profond avec Dieu et vrai avec les autres. J’ai donc été intrigué et intéressé par un commentaire précédent qui affirme que notre façon de considérer les autres est en rapport avec notre acceptation de la suprématie de Dieu et un miroir d’humilité. On y fait référence à un texte bien connu de St Paul. Dans un premier temps, je n’y ai vu qu’une autre façon de se comparer mais en y pensant bien, cette invitation de St Paul, puisqu’elle s’adresse à tous, nous extrait du mode comparatif, personne n’est, en soi, inférieur ou supérieur. L’enjeu, comme il est exprimé dans le commentaire de Zoé G, c’est notre rapport (de considération) les uns envers les autres et ultimement avec Dieu. Je ne suis pas théologien, j’espère que j’exprime correctement ce texte très délicat de St Paul. Si quelqu’un peut aider, bienvenue!
Ce miroir m’a fait réaliser que mon rapport avec l’autre est plus axé sur le bien que je peux lui apporter (dévoilant une certaine suprématie de ma part, même dans la charité) que sur l’amour réel que je lui porte et la reconnaissance de ce qu’il est. La motivation du Saint frère André était-elle alimentée par la pitié et la compassion? Je ne sais pas, mais je me plais à penser qu’elle était plus profonde, n’est-il pas très difficile de voir souffrir quelqu’un qu’on aime intensément, Dieu plus encore? Dans les projets qui me sont confiés, il m’apparaît que ma façon de considérer et d’intégrer l’autre est directement proportionnelle au niveau d’enrichissement de ce projet par l’Esprit de Dieu. Honnêtement, je suis pétrifié à l’idée de la limite que j’impose à Dieu (à l’autre) par mon orgueil, le constater me fait très mal. Difficile à exprimer tout cela, j’espère que je ne fais pas fuir d’ennui vos lecteurs. Plusieurs commentaires sur ce blogue interpellent, entres autres, l’idée que l’humilité nous permet de devenir vraiment ce que nous sommes aux yeux de Dieu. Je pense aussi qu’orienter notre regard et nos efforts vers l’autre afin qu’il devienne ce qu’il est dans toute sa « grandeur » et la splendeur de Dieu en lui nous conduit, peut-être à notre insu, vers cette humilité profonde qui nous rend capable d’absorber, de respirer Dieu partout et constamment.