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This Part: 128 Pages
Page 122
A modest mind therefore is a great and surpassing good: for it delivers those who possess it from blame and contempt, and from the charge of vaingloriousness. 'But yes! says the lover of vainglory, I wish to be illustrious and renowned, and not despised and neglected, and numbered among the unknown.' If however you desire this transitory and human glory, you are wandering away from the right path, by which you might become truly illustrious, and attain to such praise as is worthy of emulation. For it is written, "All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass." And the prophet David also blames those who love temporal honours; for he also thus spoke of them, "Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withers before it is plucked up." For just as the grass that springs up upon the housetops has no deep fixed root, and for this reason is easily parched up; so he who values worldly honour, after he has been for a short time conspicuous, and, so to speak, in flower, sinks at last into nothingness.
If then any one wish to be set above others, let him win it by the decree of heaven, and be crowned by those honours which God bestows. Let him surpass the many by having the testimony of glorious virtues; but the rule of virtue is a lowly mind that loves not boasting: yes! it is humility. And this the blessed Paul also counted worthy of all esteem: for he writes to such as are eagerly desirous of saintly pursuits, "Love humility." And' the disciple of Christ praises it, thus writing; "Let the poor brother glory in his exaltation: and the rich in his humiliation, because as the flower of the grass he passes away." For the moderate and bridled mind is exalted with God: for "God, it says, will not despise the contrite and abased heart."
But whosoever thinks great things of himself, and is supercilious, and elate in mind, and prides himself on an empty loftiness, is rejected and accursed. He follows a course the contrary of Christ's, Who said; "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." "For the Lord, it says, resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." The wise Solomon also shows in many places the safety of the humble mind; at one time saying, "Exalt not yourself, that you fall not:" and at another time, he figuratively declares the same thing; "He that makes his house high, seeks an overthrow." Such a one is hated of God, and very justly, as having mistaken himself, and senselessly aimed above the limits of his nature. For upon what ground, I pray, does man upon earth think great things of himself? For certainly his mind is weak, and easily led into base pleasures: his body is tyrannized over by corruption and death: and the duration of his life is short and limited. Nor is this all, for naked were we born, and therefore riches, and wealth, and worldly honour come to us from without, and are not really ours: for they belong not to the properties of our nature. For what reason therefore is the mind of man puffed up? What is there to exalt it to superciliousness and boasting? Were any one but to regard his state with understanding eyes, he would then become like Abraham, who mistook not his nature, and called himself "dust and ashes." And like another also who says; "Quit man who is rottenness, and the son of man who is a worm." But he who is a worm and rottenness; this dust and ashes: this very nothingness becomes great and admirable and honourable before God, by knowing himself; for so he is crowned by God with honour and praise: for the Saviour of all and Lord gives grace to the humble: by Whom and with Whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever, Amen.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/cyril-alexandria/luke-commentary-2.asp?pg=122
