Holy Scriptures teaches us about the virtue of humility.
Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles
himself shall be exalted. Commentating on this verse, Saint
Benedict tells us what to do in order to be exalted. He
describes humility as a ladder – the ladder that Jacob saw in
his dream – on which Angels appeared to him descending and
ascending. By that descent and ascent we must surely understand
nothing else than this, that we descend by self-exaltation and
ascend by humility. And the ladder thus set up is our life in
the world, which the Lord raises up to heaven if our heart is
humbled. This ladder has 12 degrees that we have to climb one by
one. The first degree of humility, then, is that a person keeps
the fear of God before his eyes and bewares of ever forgetting
it. Let him be ever mindful of all that God has commanded; let
his thoughts constantly recur to the hell-fire which will burn
for their sins those who despise God and to the life everlasting
which is prepared for those who