Today’s Chapter: Always Seen By God
Chapter 7: Of Humility (vv.13-18)
Let him consider that he is always beheld from heaven by God, and that his actions are everywhere seen by the eye of the Divine Majesty, and are every hour reported to Him by His angels. This the prophet telleth us, when he sheweth how God is ever present in our thoughts, saying: “God searcheth the heart and the reins.” And again “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men.” And he also saith: “Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off”; and “The thought of man shall confess to Thee.” In order, therefore, that he may be on his guard against evil thoughts, let the humble brother say ever in his heart: “Then shall I be unspotted before Him, if I shall have kept me from mine iniquity.”
Yesterday’s description of the 1st Degree of Humility reminded us of how Our Lady was continually memor Dei, mindful of God, storing up in her heart all of His words and deeds. Today’s portion of this degree focuses even more on what was taught in Chapter 4 in the 49th Instrument of Good Works: ‘To know for certain that God sees one everywhere.’ Saint Benedict describes the gaze of God upon each of us, as well as the report made to Him by the angels, and then provides a brief florilegium of five verses, from Psalms 7, 93, 137, 75, and 17, which we can repeat to ourselves to drive home the point.
In all of this, we can continue to see how Mary exemplifies this degree. The portion begins by saying aestimet se homo de caelis a Deo semper respici [let a man consider himself ever to be regarded from Heaven by God]: the verb respici is the same which Mary uses in the Magnificat to describe God regarding her in her humility: respexit humilitatem ancillae suae. Furthermore, knowledge of our deeds is said to be brought to God by His angels, just as Mary’s obedient response, while of course already known by God, was delivered to Him by the angel Gabriel whom He had sent as His intermediary with her.
It can be helpful then to consider how we can repeat with Mary throughout the day the verses given us by Saint Benedict to keep us mindful of God: scrutans corda et renes Deus [God searching hearts and reins]—God scrutinises the Most Pure Heart of Mary, and finds in her womb a dwelling worthy of Himself; Dominus novit cogitationes hominum [the Lord knoweth the thoughts of men]—He knew how she revolved, cogitavit, all His words in her heart; intellexisti cogitationes meas a longe [Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar]—from His throne in Heaven He looked down and saw that her thoughts alone were perfectly centered on Him; quia cogitatio hominis confitebitur tibi [for the thought of man shall confess to Thee]—the confessio of God’s goodness which Mary made outwardly in the Magnificat was ever known by God in the thoughts of her heart; and finally, tunc ero immaculatus coram eo [then shall I be spotless before Him]: the list ends with the word, immaculatus, which alone has been found adequate by the Church to describe the all-holiness of the Mother of God from her conception. May we continually repeat these words with her, always living under the gaze of God and so keeping our hearts spotless like hers from anything that could compromise our love for Him.