Humility Rules

I have found myself a great book this summer and would love to share it with you today on the Feast of St. Benedict!

Not long ago, I found this gem on one of my many visits to the Ave Maria shops.

It caught my attention from the very beginning. The cover alone portrayed St. Benedict carrying a skateboard by the title: "Humility Rules". Clever from the very beginning!

As I went on skipping the pages to have a sense of what it was all about, my curiosity pulled me even closer. it was very light reading, easy to navigate, and featured bold illustrations of classical art.

It promised to be fresh, light, and a bit comical. It was divided into short sessions, and each session ended with an assignment!

The Author of the book: Augustine Wetta, a Benedictine monk, uses a quick-witted yet profound mix of monastic and ordinary life experiences, to walk you through the "Ladder of Humility". This 12 outline set of Benedictine rules, promise to help you discover genuine self-esteem and God's power in your life.

Humility is one of the hardest virtues to practice and if you agree with me, one of the most overlooked of all.

Humility is what we long for when we wish to attain authentic spiritual growth, but why do we fail to practice it effectively? Or better yet, why do we at times think we are practicing it by putting ourselves down with low self-esteem or by just doing the bare minimum?

The predicament drove me to this very question...

Is true humility the undermining of genuine efforts toward the heights of virtue, or is it perhaps a path to down-talk our endeavors? What about our insecurities, neglect, defeat, and low self-esteem the right tools to achieve it?

Luckily, I ran into the "Benedict's Ladder of Humility". This book came into my life as if it was sent from above, at the right time and at the right moment!

On the contrary! Humility is all about love!

Let's read a fragment from the book to have a taste of what is in store if you decide to give it a try:

"Everything Saint Benedict has to say flies in the face of contemporary pop culture. He is not focused on self-love, self-praise, self-aggrandizement, or self-promotion -- not focused on the self at all, but on how to relate to one another and to God in light of our strengths and weaknesses. but such clarity of vision begins to develop only when you take the focus off yourself and devote yourself body and soul to a higher purpose". And just like it promised, this book took me on a journey of evaluation and challenges!

Climbing each step, asked of me a relevant effort to yearn for inner peace! To Begin, the author introduces St. Benedict and his rule and then dives right into the "ladder of humility", which consists of 12 steps: Fear of God, self-denial, obedience, perseverance, repentance, serenity, self-abasement, prudence, silence, dignity, discretion, and reverence. Further on, he applies each step to the three levels of action: Thoughts, words, and deeds. Covering widely all possible fronts of endeavor to achieve Humility. The practical approach is what sold me right away; it was accountability that I was really looking for when I engaged this book. More than a coaching element, the assignments began to emerge as goals to pursue. It was remarkable the way I rapidly got immersed with purpose. Just humble beginnings, like sparing the life of a bug as a first assignment could inspire a great deal of virtue, believe it or not... So if you are in search of a great book to get you shaped up in virtue, you are in for a ride! A fun ride, but most importantly a self-discovering one. "The purpose of this Rule is to help you to be holy-- or at least help you get started. So do your best to fulfill this little title rule for beginners; and you will, by the grace of God, reach the heights of knowledge and virtue." -Chapter 73, The Purpose of the Rule-

I May say, that (without spoiling the content of the book) I learned to distinguish humility from mediocrity or comfort. Moreover, I began to see humility as a very solid ladder that could take me higher step by step. I highly recommend you to read it. It is full of wisdom, cleverness, and practicality... the hardest part will be... perseverance and commitment! You can buy it "here" on Amazon.