SOURCE: "Loss of Self in the Degrees of Humility in the Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter VII" in Benedictus: Studies in Honor of St. Benedict of Nursia, edited by E. Rozanne Elder, Cistercian Publications, 1981, pp. 23-9.

In the following essay, Davis summarizes the twelve degrees of humility in the Rule of St. Benedict, focusing on the state of selflessness required to achieve humility and realize the complete love of God.

The God-exemplar

'In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord.¹ In the christian dimension, the loss of self through the attitude of humility has its ancient exemplar in the tender, compassionate, humble love of Yahweh for his people. Such an anthropomorphic revelation of divinity as this culminates in Jesus, the Son of God. Christ, the Revelation of God, styles himself as...