Humility and Magnanimity in Spiritual Guidance

Abstract

Humility, I submit, is like pornography in the sense that is difficult to define, but you know it when you see it. Unlike pornography, however, humility is not especially titillating. Many of us might admit that humility is an important virtue, but that is rarely followed by a cry of “Yay! Humility!” especially at the thought of cultivating it in our own lives. In Part I of this essay,
I will begin by swatting down some of the more pernicious mis-definitions of humility. Second, I will offer a definition of humility and its companion virtue, magnanimity, following the lead of Thomas Aquinas, for whom this was a tricky problem. In Part II, I will point to ways in which both virtues are already essential to good practice of spiritual guidance. To conclude,
I’ll suggest a few ways we might cultivate these virtues in our lives generally, trusting that virtues are good habits for our whole lives. Virtues also spread—that is, a virtue cultivated in one area of our lives will help us flourish generally. So practicing virtues in one arena will make us better overall.