Humility Matters

This is the third volume of a trilogy that began with Thoughts Matter: The Practice of the Spiritual Life and continued with Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life. Thoughts Matter was an update of the teaching of the fourth-century desert father John Cassian on the eight "afflictive thoughts" that impede the spiritual life (thoughts about food, sex, "things," anger, etc.). Tools Matter presented a wide variety of practices from the Christian tradition, both ancient and modern, that help us lift our thoughts in prayer: practices such as lectio divina, the Jesus Prayer, the Cloud of Unknowing, St Therese's Little Way, Jean-Pierre de Caussade's Practice of Self-Abandonment. The springboard for Humility Matters is the teaching on humility of St. Benedict, but the pool itself has been enriched by the fifteen years Sr. Funk spent in interreligious dialogue. "Humility," she says, "is the essence of being human. Humility for a disciple of Jesus Christ is what enlightenment is for a Buddhist, surrender for a Muslim, realization for a Hindu, and sincerity for a Confucian."