On Humility
by Franz Jägerstätter
Feast of the Holy Apostle Matthias and the death of Franz Jägerstätter
Anno Domini 2020, August 9
Humility is one of the most beautiful virtues that a person can possess, though contemporary thought sees humility as a form of cowardice. In living this beautiful virtue of humility, Christians surely should not be cowardly, for Christ Himself said: “I am gentle and humble of heart” (Mt. 11:29). Christ was surely not a coward but the greatest of heroes. So. Christians have no reason to be ashamed of themselves when they live this virtue properly.
What does it mean to be humble? It means much. More than submitting oneself to a higher authority, more then merely being at someone’s service. Humility requires of course that we owe God the Lord, who gives us everything, the greatest obedience. At the same time, we must not forget that we have to obey this world’s authorities. But it may sometimes happen that we must not obey the world’s leaders and lawmakers because we judge that in obeying them we may in fact act incorrectly, wrongly. In such a situation, we should not speak insults and grumble. Rather, we should pray. Furthermore, a public statement offered at the right time or an authentic request could be more necessary for us than many hours of reviling or lamenting behind the backs of these authorities.
Again, it is Christ Himself who taught the greatest obedience, even in relation to this world’s authorities. He was obedient until death, even until death on a cross (cf. Phil. 2:6-8). Christ could have had the power to distance Himself from every injustice. He could have scattered His evildoers as a wind would blow away a house of cards. What would we poor human beings do if Christ had exercised this kind of strength and power against us? Would any of us exist any longer? We must also ask God to give us the understanding sot that we know when, to whom, and where we must be obedient.
We must always and in general distinguish between the party and the state. There are currently among us Christians who are obeying when they need not do so and who are resisting when they should obey. If we excuse such people for their deeds and actions, then we can almost always find permissible any action on the basis of the words: “We no longer know what to do today.” The people who are saying these words today are not dumb in entirely other matters. Yet we cannot and may not pass judgment about such people, for we do know how unclear human understanding can often be at times.
However, we cannot approach God with these same words of excuse, for God sees into our human understanding and knows what we have actually thought.
“Jesus, meek and humble of heart, form our hearts according to your heart.” We could and should pray this short, beautiful prayer often during each day.
*This is one of many reflections on the Christian life and the moral dilemma of Christians in the Third Reich that Jägerstätter wrote between the summer of 1941 (after returning home from military training in April) and the winter of 1942, all penned in order to decide what he should do when he was again summoned to military duty.
**Excerpt from Franz Jägerstätter: Letters and Writings from Prison, ed. Erna Putz, tr. Robert A. Krieg (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009), 153-154. Available for purchase at Eighth Day Books.
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