The Power of Humility

In Raúl's words: Before we delve into the song, I would like to begin by giving a definition to the word "humble" so that we know what we're talking about. "Humble" means to consider yourself as having no special importance that makes you better than others, in other words, the opposite of being proud. Having said this, I would like to move to why this quality, this feature of a person, is so important.

My interest in all things related to God took me in the past months to discover the writings of Luisa Piccarreta. Luisa was an Italian woman who lived in the first half of the 20th century, and who I have come to believe had a profound relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus taught her many things about what it means to live in his Divine Will, and these teachings are available to us today in a magnificent work called The Book of Heaven.

Reading this book, I was enthralled by a passage that talks about humility. As a singer-songwriter, I had then the idea of writing a song that would bring together a few ideas about humbleness found in The Book of Heaven. I begin the song by saying:

"Humbleness is what makes grace fall in love"

in other words, humility draws God's blessings, God's favor. This means that God likes a person who is humble; He likes a person who considers himself as having no special importance that makes him better than others. I then say:

"Humbleness overcomes all boundaries between the soul and God and to Him it returns"

which means that humility has the ability to surmount any wall of division between the soul and God, and brings the soul back to God. But why would this be? I think it is because humility is a quality of God and no one can be at peace with Him by being the opposite of what He is (for example when someone shows excessive self-esteem, is cocky, conceited). Moving on we hear me say that

"Humbleness breaks the hardest chains of a man such as sin"

in other words, humility has the ability to break the strongest chains: the chains of sin. If we connect this with my opinion that no one can be at peace with God if we are the opposite of what He is, then we will understand that "sin," in other words what is regarded as wrong by God, is something that goes against Him. And why does humility break the chains of sin? My take on this is that humility makes us aware of our shortcomings and this, in return, takes us to repent of the actions that we know are wrong. But a person who is proud, who is cocky and conceited, is unable to admit his or her shortcomings; that is why humility is our best friend when it comes to admitting that, we too, make things that offend God.

"Humbleness is the key for peace in the storms and waves of the ocean of this life"

is what comes next in the song. The storms and waves are a symbol for all problems in life, and in my opinion, peace can only be present in such moments when we face them together with God; and how is it that we attract God's favor, God's help and support? It is once again possible thanks to humility.

"Humbleness is like salt that gives flavor to all virtues"

is what comes next. There is a saying that humbleness is the foundation of all virtues, for example generosity, patience, moderation in what we say and do, etc. If that is true, which I believe is so, then humility is the backbone of all other virtues, humility is what makes virtues truthful, genuine, otherwise we would find people who are generous, patient, etc., yes, but only to be noticed by others, or for some other vain reason. We then hear that

"Humbleness is like a moon that guides us in the darkness of this life"

This implies, in my opinion, that humility is a light that prevents us from getting lost in life. Problems of all kinds are a constant and humbleness seems to play a key role in helping us overcome them. Why? I think it is because humbleness keeps us united with God and, together with Him, is there anything we cannot solve?

"Humbleness is the key to the gate of Heaven; no one has access without this key"

Here we have another idea that describes just how important humility is. If we understand the concept of Heaven as being together with God for eternity, then we can see that humility is the key to open God's heart, thus the key to enter into his kingdom. And this leads to why "humbleness is the key to make God smile," "the key to making all of Heaven smile." Finally, since a soul that says "yes" to God for eternity is someone who defeats evil once and for all, this defeat is a torment for all hell, and that is why, like I say before the chorus, "humbleness makes all of hell burst into tears."

My final thoughts on humility is that we can foster this virtue by noticing that everything we do, those great achievements in life, etc., all that is only possible because God provides us with all what is necessary to accomplish it. For instance, talking about my own life, I can only make music because God gives me the necessary skills to do it; he gives me the ideas for a song, the encouragement, the tools, and sustains me along the way. I should not attribute then what I do to myself but only to God, because if He were to stop doing what He does, then I would be good for nothing. And I think this is the same for everybody else.

Humbleness is what makes grace fall in love
Humbleness overcomes all boundaries between the soul and God and to Him it returns
Humbleness breaks the hardest chains of a man such as sin
Humbleness is the key for peace in the storms and waves of the ocean of this life

Humbleness is like salt that gives flavor to all virtues
Humbleness is like a moon that guides us in the darkness of this life

Humbleness is the key to the gate of Heaven
No one has access without this key
Humbleness is the key to make God smile
Humbleness makes all of Heaven smile and all of Hell burst into tears

Chorus
(Lalala...)