Humility is usually described as a state of humility, the abandonment of personal selfish desires, self-denial, love and compassion for people, lasting peace of mind and peace of mind, spiritual depth, a close relationship with God, and doing His will for one's life.
We know what humility is, and we try to apply it to our lives. But not all of us do, or if we do, it is only partially successful. For like any virtue, true humility is not found in words or promises, but in deeds and behavior.
Everything is relative, and for me the greatest example and symbol of humility is the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Her world-renowned ministry was begun, actively developed, and became so remarkable because of the unprecedented humility of an ordinary Catholic nun in all areas of her life - toward God, toward people, and toward herself.
As a young girl named Agnes, while serving in a church in her hometown of Skopje, Macedonia, listening to letters from missionaries from India, she felt a desire in her heart to become a missionary. To prepare for this, she traveled to Ireland and there joined the Irish Sisters of Loreto. Soon Agnes found herself in Calcutta, where she took her monastic vows and took the monastic name Teresa, after St. Teresa de Lisieux.
After five years, she makes a secret vow to God: "I promise that I will fulfill everything You ask of me. Three years later, in 1946, on a train on her way to a ministerial meeting, she heard an inner voice, a call from God, telling her to "Go and live among the poor, and I will be with you. Following her vow, she followed it without complaint.
It took great effort to convince the leadership of the monastic order to give her permission to leave the monastery, but who could stop the burning heart that sought to do God's will?
So Teresa left the prosperous monastery and went to places of extreme poverty and vice, to the poorest neighborhoods of Calcutta, where she helped the poor, the hungry, the sick and the excluded, doing whatever she could. Later, when she had helpers, the Sisters of Charity, together they created shelters, hospitals, and hospices for the homeless, the poor, the crippled, and the dying, and from morning till night they gave their best to alleviate their suffering even a little.
Mother Teresa believed that everyone, regardless of position, nationality or creed, is an image of God. She saw Christ in every suffering person. "Everything you do to these people, you do to God," she said to a death-row prison guard, pointing to the prisoners. And it shook him to his core.
For the sake of helping people, she would take on any job, no matter how unpleasant. Year after year, the frail little woman picked up dying people in the streets, fed the hungry, cared for the sick, the crippled, the lepers, pulled newborn babies from garbage heaps, helped earthquake and flood victims, visited prisoners, actively advocated against abortion. She tried to be everywhere she could to help people who were suffering.
Humility before God is a love for God, a commitment of one's life to Him, a willingness to courageously submit one's will to God's will, to accept life with the words "God, Thy will be done.
Humility before self is a vision of one's sins and a willingness to bear one's cross, it is a hope for God's mercy rather than one's own excuses and achievements, it is patiently enduring life's hardships and difficulties. As Mother Teresa said, "The proud are always offended. The humble is never offended because nothing offends him. The proud seeks special love for himself. The humble loves himself, expecting nothing in return."
Humility before men is not to divide them into good and bad, rich and poor, believers and unbelievers. It is to continue, year after year, to love and care for every neighbor in spite of misunderstanding, criticism, and accusations from detractors. "When you judge people, you have no time to love them."
« Little Nonentity». That's what Mother Teresa called herself. But she was also an incredibly strong person with a difficult temperament, very determined and determined.
She called herself a "pencil in God's hand" and to the end of her days she was sure that God needed her "nothingness" only to make His glory shine bright, always saying that it was not she but God Himself who worked among the poorest of the poor.
In fact, God needed nothingness in order for greatness to shine. Behind every great achievement lies great self-denial. This is why, for more than 70 years, the ministry started by a simple Albanian girl has continued to make a difference in the lives of millions around the world.
But the most amazing knowledge of Mother Teresa's life came after her death, when her diaries and the correspondence she kept with some of the priests closest to her were published.
It turned out that Mother Teresa was not an angel, but an ordinary person of flesh and blood, sometimes very lonely and suffering, experiencing emptiness and darkness, seeking and waiting for God.
For after God spoke His will to her twice, His great and most difficult silence began. Mother Teresa wrote: "I don't know what to do. There is no God. There is no Heaven. What to do if God has forsaken me?", "If you only knew the darkness in my heart. - A smile is a huge veil behind which I can't see how much pain I'm in"..
But despite all that was going on in her soul - she goes again and again and continues to do what God has called her to do - to nurse and care for the sick and dying... In spite of her inner darkness and weariness, she never complained to anyone, but continued to encourage others to "smile at Jesus" more often and to do all things in joy.
And the fact that no one knew what great difficulty her outward cheerfulness and affability sometimes gave her does not speak of her pretense and insincerity, but rather expresses great humility, patience, and deepest love for everyone.
It was her incredible and amazing humility and self-denial that led people to recognize and call her a saint. For "holy" does not mean sinless and perfect, but "holy" in its original and true meaning (Hebrew kadosh; Greek hagios) means "chosen", "set apart" from others, destined by God for a specific purpose or mission.
And I am sure God did not remove himself from the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta. He only removed the experience of His presence to further deepen her humility. Making it forever a great feat, unrepeatable and unattainable.