Recovering Humility
Dr. Brandon Beck
Lay Chaplain, COHI
Monk, The OOOW
Theology Student, Brite Divinity School
I love October. It’s one of those three times a year we are privileged to read the Humility Ladder together. As a person in recovery, the Humility Ladder is a source of great joy, as Recoverers who practice the 12-Steps can relate their 12 Steps of Recovery to the Humility Ladder with great ease.
““Now the ladder erected is our life on earth, and if we humble our hearts God will raise it to heaven. We may call our body and soul the sides of this ladder, into which our divine vocation has fitted the various steps of humility and discipline as we ascend.””
Benedict’s description of the ladder we must set up for ourselves, akin to Jacob’s vision (Gen 28:12), has been oft represented in art and stories. I’ve written to you before of John Edward Crean Jr.’s Benedictine devotional Recovering Benedict in which he reflects on his journey with RSB in conjunction with 12-Step Recovery. His stories and prayers related to the Humility Ladder rival any artwork you might find in emotion and call to compassionate reflection.
As I’ve read Crean again this month, I’ve been renewed and reminded of the amazing work God does every day in providing me with miraculous reminders of why I stay on the ladder and keep climbing.
From Crean’s reflections:
September 26: “Help me remember who I am supposed to be and who you intended me to become.”
September 27: “God is much more focused on my efforts rather than on my successes.”
September 28: “I will trust you, Lord, to provide me with even a few extra moments to consider whether choosing this or that activity will help or hinder me.”
September 29: “You are all Love, Lord.”
September 30: “Cheap thrills don’t last and offer no solutions.”
October 1: “This third step up the ladder of humility requires an open heart.”
October 2: “May the fire of your Holy Spirit prevail over the heat of my own unruly passions.”
October 3: “I cannot reap the full benefits without my humility reaching for that fifth rung, where I conceal none of the evil thoughts that enter my heart.”
October 4: “Lord, please let me just say thanks that I have a job, and then just do whatever I am assigned.”
October 5: “Don’t let me buy into the fantasy that I am large and in charge.”
October 6: “Thank you, Lord, for this one sentence reminding me that humility requires me to adopt, not adapt, twelve-step principles.”
October 7: “Please help me to speak less and listen more.”
October 8: “Lord, please help me to reflect rather than react.”
October 9: “Lord, please make me into a quieter, kinder, gentler, less loquacious person.”
October 10: “Lord, help me to wear humility without being proud of it. Help me to trust you in all things. Help me to be so deeply wedded to your Perfect Love that I may transcend fear and transmit Love. Lord, grant me the gift of humility and the grace to make it my way of life.”
You don’t have to be in recovery to be in recovery and not everyone in recovery does it the 12-step way. Still, Everybody hurts sometimes. We are a Community of Hope steeped in Benedictine spirituality ready to listen compassionately, right?