I come now to humility, which is like its sisters: for while it produces great straits for the proud and arrogant, for those who come to the school of Christ and are willing to learn from Him it begins to widen without difficulty. For we are bidden to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Pet. 5:6), as the Prince of the Apostles admonished; and this his fellow Apostle St. James confirms (James 4:10). For what difficulty can be imagined in a mortal man humbling himself before the immortal and almighty God? Then we must also choose the lowest place among men, since it befits us to esteem one another as better, as the Apostle warns in the Epistle to the Philippians: "Esteeming," he says, "others better than themselves" (Phil. 2:3). But those who know themselves, and are conscious of their own weakness, while they do not know the hearts of others, suffer no straits in holding all others above themselves, in giving them precedence in honor, and in yielding them the higher place. For as pride is born of ignorance of oneself, so humility is born of knowledge of oneself. The heart of a proud man easily sees the vices that he does not have in himself and that others have, because they are all outside him; but his own vices, though often the greatest and known to all others, he himself does not see, because they are within him — just as the eye does not see what is within itself, but only what is outside it. That Pharisee can serve us as an example, who gave thanks to God that he was not like the rest of men — extortioners, unjust, adulterers (Luke 18:11); for he saw that the vices of robbery, injustice, and adultery were not in him, but he did not see the graver vices that lay hidden within — pride, blindness of mind, and impenitence — and therefore he set himself above the publican who was praying in the same temple. But the publican, because he had better eyes, saw the vices in himself and did not see his virtues; therefore he kept to the lowest place, standing afar off, striking his breast, and imploring the mercy of God: whence it came about that by God's judgment the latter went away justified, and the former condemned. Wherefore, if anyone will seriously apply himself to the knowledge of himself, he will suffer no straits in passing through the gate of the House of the Lord.
To all this we must add that the gate of the House of the Lord appears most narrow, and almost impassable, to those who approach laden, and who, fat of body or wrapped in many garments, attempt to enter with the body held erect; while the same gate appears wide and of easiest access to those who enter without any burden, naked, lean, and hardened. And so the cause lies in us that we cannot enter easily through that gate through which many of the blessed passed without any difficulty or trouble. Let the Christian man then begin to lay aside the burdens of riches; let him understand that wealth has been given him by God as to a steward, not as to a master — to distribute to the needy, not to keep carefully for himself alone: for so it will come about that the soul, freed from the love of riches, as though a great burden had been laid down, will not labor because of the narrowness of the gate. Let him likewise put off the excessive fat of carnal delights, or rather cast out the noxious humors that infect and inflate the body. Finally, let him strip off the conceit of his own self-esteem, put on the humility of Christ, and bow his neck to the obedience of the commandments; and then let him complain if he cannot enter the gate of salvation easily and comfortably enough.