THE TOUCH OF HUMILITY: AN INVITATION TO CREATURELINESS

Humility has been much maligned and misunderstood in recent thought. An authentic sense of humility, however, is borne out of a deep appreciation for human creatureliness, and is concretely worked out in the grateful acceptance of our interdependent need. The phenomenological studies of Jean‐Louis Chrétien, particularly his analyses of touch and the “call‐response” structure to human life, are enlisted to show our true life as lived in humble reception and responsible engagement with the gifts of God. Far from being a debasement of humanity, humility—which finds its practical patterns in the divine life—is the core of our identity and vocation.